Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home Fair Trade withinthe North and within the South

Daniel JaffeeNelson Institute for Environmental StudiesUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison

Jack R Kloppenburg JrDepartment of Rural SociologyUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison

Mario B MonroyServicios Informativos Procesados AC (SIPRO)Mexico DF Mexico

ABSTRACT Fair trade is typically understood as an alternative market systemthat aims to right historically inequitable terms of trade between thegeopolitical North and South and foster more direct producerconsumerlinkages We suggest that a more expansive application of the term lsquolsquofairtradersquorsquo to encompass agro-food initiatives within the North and South hasconsiderable analytic and practical utility We pro le ve such initiatives inthe United States and two in Mexico The US undertakings are bestunderstood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects that frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise to achievefairness in the marketplace The Mexican initiatives more explicitly embracethe certi cation-criteria-labeling model of international fair trade Both weconclude hold potential to harness fair tradersquos lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improveconditions for small producers and laborers in North and Southexperiencing most directly the negative effects of economic globalization

Food goes into every human being Though it is not easy toexplain or describe clearly the intuition that one is somehowsubstantiatedmdashincarnatedmdashout of the food one ingests can besaid to carry some kind of moral charge

Sidney Mintz Tasting Food Tasting Freedom (1996)

The needs of small farmers whether they grow coffee [in theSouth] or produce [in the North] may be quite similar Bothgroups need better access to and more control over the marketThat can only happen if consumers use their market power tovote for fair prices to the grower better access to nancing for

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundationunder Grant No 0117461 Support for the research reported here was also provided bythe University of Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station in conjunction with regionalresearch project NE-1012 Direct correspondence to Daniel Jaffee Nelson Institute forEnvironmental Studies University of Wisconsin-Madison 550 N Park Street MadisonWI 53706 email dsjaffeewiscedu

Rural Sociology 69(2) 2004 pp 169ndash196Copyright 2004 by the Rural Sociological Society

small farmers and more environmentally sustainable pro-duction

Rink Dickinson Co-Director Equal Exchange (2000)

There is probably no human society in which food has not been seento carry the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to which Sidney Mintz refers How and whycertain foods come to be imbued with characteristics that make themeither taboo (eg the abominations of Leviticus) or sacramental (egtaro among Polynesian peoples) is a matter of considerable interest Asan example of this linkage of foodstuff and morality Mintz (1996 72)describes the efforts of late eighteenth century British abolitionists toundermine the institution of slavery by arguing that consumption ofsugar produced as it was by slaves was tantamount to murder Suchdeliberate ethical valencing of a particular food for social or political(or now commercial) purposes is a more or less modern phenomenonCertainly this active and relatively transparent construction of themoral charge is a de ning characteristic of what has come to be knownas the lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo movement

Fair trade is typically understood as an alternative market system thataims to right the historically inequitable terms of trade between thegeopolitical North and South It is founded on the notion that someconsumers will select certain foods based on the ethical characteristicsthey are seen to embody Fair trade thus links Third World producers oftropical foodstuffs more directly with consumers in industrializednations It is in that nexus that Raynolds (2002404) locates the lsquolsquotruesigni cancersquorsquo of fair trade lsquolsquoits ability to create new consumerproducerlinks which span the North South dividersquorsquo Those linksmdashsociallyembedded as they are in shared lsquolsquovalues of solidarity and fairnessrsquorsquo(Renard 1999 496) rather than in the values of the marketmdashareimportant in turn for the lsquolsquochallenge they raise to the abstract capitalistrelations that fuel exploitation in the agro-food systemrsquorsquo (Raynolds2000 298)

While fair trade has to date been framed exclusively as a systemlinking southern producers of primary commodities (coffee bananascocoa tea) more directly with socially responsible consumers in theNorth Raynoldsrsquo lsquolsquoprogressive new consumerproducer linksrsquorsquo (20011)are precisely what many sustainable food initiatives within the UnitedStates and within the global South are also intended to achieve Anumber of Northern undertakings share many of the structuralelements that are characteristic of international fair trade and a fewsuch projects have begun explicitly utilizing the rubric of lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo toframe their approach to building agro-food sustainability There aremoreover sustainable food system initiatives intended to forge relation-

170 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

ships between producers and consumers that are entirely endogenousto countries of the South These too exhibit a close kinship to what isconventionally understood as fair trade In this article we suggest thata more expansive application of the term fair trade to encompass agro-food initiatives within both North and South as well as between North andSouth has considerable analytic and practical utility Fair trade weargue is not necessarily far trade

The recent burgeoning of studies on alternative agro-food networksin Europe and North America has taken the lsquolsquoturn to qualityrsquorsquo as itsleitmotif (see especially the collection of essays published in Journal ofRural Studies 19 2003) David Goodman (20032) notes that thisliterature has utilized three principal analytic categoriesmdashqualityembeddedness and the localmdashin its explorations of alternatives topricemarket hegemony in food systems With few exceptions howeverissues associated with equity have not been systematically engaged Wesuggest that the Northern and Southern fair trade initiatives pro ledhere all of which attempt to mobilize some version of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo asa means of connecting producers to consumers offer the new categoryof lsquolsquoequityrsquorsquo to those interested in understanding and assessing the lsquolsquoturnto qualityrsquorsquo in markets for food products

We share Raynoldsrsquo belief that fair trade wherever one nds it mayindeed mount a fundamental challenge to the domination of the agro-food system by powerful corporations and the straitened ethics of theneo-liberal market Not everyone is so sanguine however Forms oflsquolsquogreen consumerismrsquorsquo have been faulted for eschewing social mobiliza-tion and direct political action in favor of the contradictory promotion ofsocial change through consumption (Allen and Kovach 2000 Klein1999 Winter 2003) Critics of fair trade though not unappreciative of itsprogressive potential have pointed out a variety of questions that mustbe addressed if fair trade is to realize its transformative promise Theseconcerns include the privileged position of farmers as opposed to wagedlabor the accessibility of fairly traded products to low income consumersthe robustness and character of the ethical linkages established acrosssocial and physical space and the extent to which such linkages actuallybecome the foundations for broader social or political challenges to theconventional global agro-food system and the overarching set ofcorporatist and capitalist relationships in which that system is embeddedGoodman and Goodman (2001114) posit the challenge succinctly

the alternative trade movement must nd ways of in-corporating low-income consumers into its networks whilemaintaining its commitment to price premiums and long-termcontracts for producers Moreover fair trade organic must

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 171

extend its reach beyond the nutritionally rather insigni cantcommodities of coffee and chocolate and enroll large-scaleretailers and socially excluded consumers into a more broadlybased coalition which prioritises its political commitments

Just as these concerns apply to fair trade between North and Souththey are also applicable to our exploration of the manifestations of fairtrade within Northern and Southern spheres We suggest that theseprojects and undertakings are uncovering possible routes around andthrough such contradictions Notably the explicitly social content of fairtradersquos lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo is a critical element that may allow fair trademdashbetween and within North and Southmdashto assume an important role inthe struggle to achieve a food system the sustainability of which ispredicated on both social justice and ecological integrity Assessingthe manner in which concerns for equity engage participants in alter-native agro-food networks can illuminate the extent to which such net-works might ful ll their promise as transformative vehicles rather thanfall prey to tendencies toward lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo (Hinrichs 2003Winter 2003)

Whatrsquos Fair is Far Tapping Into the Moral Charge inInternational Trade

The unfairness of international terms of trade between Northern centersand Southern peripheriesmdashlsquolsquounequal exchangersquorsquomdashwas long the focus ofdependency theory and its many variations (Amin 1976 Roxborough1979) and today remains a key element of the contemporary debate overglobalization (Greider 1997 McMichael 1996) An enduring feature ofNorth-South trade relations has been the displacement of small andindependent producers by export crops and the subversion of theireconomic position by cheap agricultural imports

From at least the days of the British abolitionists who rejected slave-produced sugar there have been people of good will unwilling toaccept this state of affairs The 1960s 1970s and 1980s saw the birthof a wide range of lsquolsquoalternative trade organizationsrsquorsquo (ATOs) smallbusinesses or civil society organizations primarily in Europe thatestablished a network of shops to sell products from small or poorproducers in the Third World who had no markets (handicrafts) weretrapped in inequitably structured markets (eg coffee) or whosemarkets had been closed by political at (eg Nicaragua) The volumeof fair trade and the number of participants engaged in that activitybecame large enough to take on lsquolsquomovementrsquorsquo status in popular andacademic accounts The cry of this nascent movement which emerged

172 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

from progressive development NGOs was lsquolsquotrade not aidrsquorsquo (Renard200389)

A watershed event for the fair trade movement was the creation ofthe Max Havelaar label in the Netherlands in 1988 The Dutchdevelopment organization Solidaridad was approached by Mexicancoffee farmers from the UCIRI cooperative in Oaxaca state who wereseeking to expand markets for their product beyond token salesthrough European lsquolsquoworld shopsrsquorsquo Solidaridad created a fair trade labelwhich could be placed on coffee sold under any brand in mainstreamretail venues (Renard 2000) Max Havelaar licenses the use of the labelto coffee roasters and retailers who agree to be certied for theircompliance with its criteria of fairness in trade The label somewhatlike its eco-label counterparts on organic foods is intended to conductto the prospective purchaser the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo the coffee can beunderstood to carry as a result of the conditions of its production Therapid growth of fair trade organizations in Europe during the 1980s andthe US during the 1990s and the creation of an internationalcerti cation body in 1997 re ect the degree to which this form ofalternative trade is being institutionalized

The core principle of fair trade initiatives is obtaining a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquofor Southern producersrsquo goods by making commodity chains bothshorter and fairer Through alternative trade networks that bypasstraditional intermediaries small farmers and producer organizationsare able in some cases to reap as much as 40 percent of the nalpurchase price But fair trade organizations make it clear that theconnectivity they hope to foster between Southern producers andNorthern consumers goes far beyond the narrow objective of priceAccording to certier TransFair USA

Fair trade bene ts many From farmers in producer countriesto students in a US school studying the environment theconcept and practice of fair trade connects producers andconsumers in new and powerful ways It is the nexus formeeting both environmental and economic considerations ofindigenous peoples re-balancing the trading relationshipbetween North and South building a link between US policyand publics to a larger world community that is knocking at thedoor (20021)

Raynoldsrsquo assertion that fair trade lsquolsquosuggests provocative possibilitiesfor socially re-linking production trade and consumption andchallenging the domination of the agro-food system by oligopolistictransnational corporationsrsquorsquo (20011) may appear hyperbolic but this isprecisely what fair trade organizations intend

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 173

In order to receive fair trade certication these production ar-rangements must meet speci ed criteria While various fair trade or-ganizations phrase the standards somewhat differently Table 1 lists themost commonly used criteria drawn from a variety of fair tradeschemata Producers typically must receive a guaranteed minimum orlsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price to cover production costs and protect against market uctuations as well as a lsquolsquosocial premiumrsquorsquo directed to social de-velopment Other criteria include providing credit or partial pay-ment in advance of harvest long-term trading contracts nancialtransparency environmentally-sound practices and increased controlby producers over marketing and production (Fair Trade Federation2000) Fair trade certiers have also developed a second lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo tocertify fairness in crops such as bananas and tea which are producedlargely on plantations by waged workers These standards includepayment of a lsquolsquoliving wagersquorsquo decent working conditions and respect forthe right to join unions (Pruyn 2001) Coffee was the rst fairly tradedfood commodity and remains the most signi cant with 240 producerorganizations now on the international fair trade coffee registerrepresenting 490000 grower families Certication has now expandedto other products including bananas tea sugar cocoa honeypineapples mangoes and orange juice (Theunissen 2002 Rice2001) Worldwide sales of certied fair trade products grew 22 percentin 2001 to reach $235 million bene ting 800000 families Fair tradebananas coffee and chocolate have captured an important share of themarket in several western European nations (FLO 2002a)

However it is not yet clear whether fair trade as currently constitutedcan become more than a marginal alternative and assume a role as a realforce for the reform and even transformation of conventional unequalexchange relationships It is this issue that most concerns DavidGoodman and Michael Goodman in their review of the lsquolsquosocialimaginariesrsquorsquo of organic agriculture eco-labeling and fair trade

Table 1 Most Common Fair Trade Criteria

n Fair prices to producers fair wages to laborers ( oor or minimum priceswages socialdevelopment premium)

n Advance credit or payment to producersn Democratically run producer cooperatives or workplacesn Long-term contracts and trading relationshipsn Environmentally sustainable production practicesn Public accountability and nancial transparencyn Financial and technical assistance to producersn Safe non-exploitative working conditions

(Sources Global Exchange 2002 Equal Exchange 2002 FLO 2002b TransFair USA2002 Fair Trade Federation 2002)

174 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Progressive change requires a lsquolsquosymmetrical socio-ecologicalrsquorsquo concep-tualization of sustainability that facilitates political engagement(Goodman and Goodman 2001115) Yet the current technocentricstandards-based construction of lsquolsquoorganicrsquorsquo and of most eco-labelsignores the social conditions of production and these manifestationsof lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo are coming to approximate conventional agro-foodsystems in their patterns of farm structure labor organization andmarketing (Guthman 2000) In contrast Goodman and Goodman(2001111) nd fair trade labels to be uniquely potent since theyencompass lsquolsquoboth organic production processes and the bundle ofethical labour and commercial practices which encode alternative eco-social production relations into the constitution of these productsrsquorsquoThe fair trade networkrsquos eco-social imaginaries they assert offera deeper richer and more radical promise of transformation

We argue that the bundle of core elements that constitute fair trade arenot found only in the international arrangements to which the term isconventionally applied but can also be applied to the activities of somealternative agro-food networks within the North and within the South Iffair trade can indeed facilitate action at such a distance that it createsa moral and a material connectivity across continents should it not alsofunction similarly across shorter distances If fair trade is so compellingand engaging a discursive construct for socially embedding Dutchconsumer behavior in regard to Mexican coffee might it not functionsimilarly in shaping the choices a Wisconsin consumer makes in buyingcheese or the way a resident of Mexico City decides to purchase tortillas

These questions so far have not been engaged by the literatures oncontemporary agro-food transformations Fair trade has been treated asa special and somewhat idiosyncratic case within the larger set ofalternativesustainable food problematics This is somewhat curioussince the features of fair trade initiatives intersect with the key analyticsof placelocality social embeddedness and quality But studies of theconstruction of short food supply chains in Europe (eg Marsden et al1999 Miele 1999) do not reference the parallel efforts of Third Worldfair trade producers to circumvent intermediaries and jump-start ruraldevelopment Analyses of the social embeddedness associated withalternative and direct marketing of foods have not foregroundedconsiderations of equity even as fair trade coffee is sold at farmersmarkets alongside local produce The intense examination of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquonow under way does not substantively encompass lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo as a meansof framing preferences (Goodman 2003 Winter 2003)

As Whatmore and Thorne note lsquolsquoperformance of lsquofairnessrsquo ratherthan charityrsquorsquo is a powerful means of establishing lsquolsquoconnectivityrsquorsquobetween peasant and indigenous coffee producers in the South and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 175

consumers in the North (1997299) This performance is also at work ina number of initiatives both within the North and within the SouthExploring the construction and deployment of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo on thesemore limited terrains is both theoretically and practically useful and wenow turn our attention in this direction

North-North Initiatives Convergence

One of the de ning features of economic globalization is that it tiestogether the fates of people at opposite corners of the earth in new andcomplex ways In the second of the two quotes that open this article RinkDickinson co-director of Equal Exchange Coffee highlights the simi-larity in the structural position of many farmers in both the North andSouth His comment describes a project called Red Tomato which bringsthe produce of southern small farmers to New England grocery stores

The Equal Exchange warehouse houses organic coffee frompeasant farmers in Oaxaca Mexico It houses watermelonsfrom disadvantaged black farmers from Georgia SouthCarolina and other parts of the south Both the watermelonand the coffee farmers have created co-ops to arrangemarketing and give them a chance against larger growers andprocessors The implications of this convergence between thework of the watermelon farmers peach farmers tea growersand coffee farmers is immense (20002)

In this structural and institutional lsquolsquoconvergencersquorsquo Dickinson explicitlysees an opportunity for lsquolsquobringing fair trade ideals to US farmersrsquorsquo andfor developing fair trade marketing in local regional and nationalcontexts as well as in the international frame

How might we assess Dickinsonrsquos ambition Are there indeed extantor emerging initiatives focused on marketing within in the UnitedStates that might plausibly fall under the rubric of lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo In factthere is a variety of such undertakings in all regions of the country Inorder to provide an empirical platform for further discussion we nowpro le ve of these initiatives with particular attention to the extent towhich these endogenous projects share characteristics commonlyassociated with North-South fair trade (see Table 1)

Red Tomato

Red Tomato is a marketing organization based in Canton Massachusettsthat distributes fresh fruits and vegetables from family farmers to retailsupermarkets food cooperatives and institutions in the Boston areaIf there is one initiative that might be expected to approximate theSouthNorth fair trade model most closely it is Red Tomato The

176 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

project was started in 1997 by Michael Rozyne who had earlier beena founder of Equal Exchange From direct conversations with staff itwas apparent to us that fair trade principles undergird Red Tomatorsquosapproach to facilitating market access for small sustainable farmersBut apart from a commitment to assuring a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo and to theestablishment of lsquolsquolong-term pricing agreementsrsquorsquo these principlesremain largely implicit in the organizationrsquos public face Indeed thewords lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo are almost completely absent from Red Tomatorsquospublic materials and point of sale advertising The only use of the termin its principal brochure comes in a description of its sibling EqualExchange

Dickinson (20002) explicitly outlines the similarities in the roles ofRed Tomato and Equal Exchange

Both groups are committed to connecting consumers tofarmers Both are actively engaged in the marketplace but arenot for pro t maximizing Both Equal Exchange and RedTomato are working with disadvantaged producers and bothare driven by cultures of worker innovation and control

Nevertheless Red Tomato has quite deliberately chosen to frame itspublic message in terms more familiar to North American consumersAccording to its brochure

Red Tomato is a nonpro t marketing organization that helpsfamily farmers survive and helps make sure that local people can nd high-quality affordable local produce (Red Tomato nd)

Rather than the formal certication and labeling characteristic ofSouth-North approaches to fair trade Red Tomato has chosen todevelop a lsquolsquobrandrsquorsquo of its own and that brand image does not include anexplicit fair trade element By way of explanation a Red Tomato staffmember distinguishes between lsquolsquofollowing fair trade principles versuscertifying or using fair trade principles to certifyrsquorsquo She is lsquolsquoverycomfortable saying Red Tomato follows fair trade principlesrsquorsquo but feelsthat many consumers in the United States are not now suf cientlyinformed or well enough developed politically to respond to a formalfair trade campaign focused on domestic produce and Americanfarmers (Red Tomato 2002)

Federation of Southern Cooperatives

Ironically fair trade is foregrounded by the Federation of SouthernCooperatives That organization is partnering with Red Tomato to bringto the New England market the watermelons and other produce grownby African-American family farmers in seven Southeastern states This

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 177

marketing relationship with a democratically run cooperative repre-sents another of the ways in which Red Tomatorsquos practices correspondto those found in South-North fair trading arrangements But whereRed Tomato prefers to accent the family farmlocalistenvironmentaldimensions of its product line the Federation of Southern Coopera-tives makes an unambiguous effort to deploy the moral charge of fairtrade in its outreach A Federation press release (20001) describing therelationship with Red Tomato is headlined lsquolsquoFederationLAF Engagedin lsquoFair Tradersquo Practices to Serve Family Farmers and Customersrsquorsquo andstates

Our goal at the FederationLAF is to make sure farmers aretreated fairly in the marketplace We want lsquofair tradersquo forfarmersmdashone that rst considers the farmerrsquos costs and pro t[ ] we hope it will serve as a model for family farmers acrossthe country

The FederationRed Tomato project directly addresses concernsfamiliar to the Latin American and African coffee farmers with whomEqual Exchange is accustomed to dealing the power of distributors andretailers the desire for collective action by producers and for closerlinkages with consumers the need for long-term contracts and ofcourse for a fair price

The FederationLAF rst asked the farmers what they consid-ered to be a fair price for their watermelon Once that wasdetermined all their costs were factored in above the farmerrsquosprice such as transportation and other overhead costs The FairTrade model considers the farmer rst and foremost and byeliminating the lsquolsquomiddlemanrsquorsquo the consumers also have a moredirect relationship with farmers which is a win-win situation forall concerned (Federation of Southern Cooperatives 20001)

The Federation then clearly sees the lsquolsquoconvergencersquorsquo referred to byDickinson and appreciates the potential of domestic fair trade directlymobilizing the language of fair trade to illustrate both the disadvan-tages its members face and the route to improving their situation

Family Farmer Cheese

Family Farmer Cheese is a joint project of the Wisconsin-based dairyfarm advocacy group Family Farm Defenders (FFD) and a cheesemanufacturer Cedar Grove Cheese Founded in the 1970s FFD haslong been actively involved in struggles to reform federal milkmarketing regulations and pricing policies oppose the new biotech-nologies and counter agribusiness consolidation Recognizing that

178 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

efforts to in uence federal legislation were important but slow theorganization sought ways to keep small dairy farmers in business in theshort run Family Farm Defendersrsquo leadership met with a localcheesemaker whose small family-owned factory was one of the fewsurviving facilities in what had once been a thriving regional industryAccording to FFD founder Francis Goodman lsquolsquoWe decided to marketa cheese brand based on a fair relationship between trading partnersproviding consumers an opportunity to vote for family dairy farms withtheir food dollars and providing family dairy farmers nancial securityrsquorsquo(Leinberger 19991)

The critical foundations of the Family Farmer Cheese initiative area guaranteed price for milk and a label All cheese sold under theFamily Farmer Cheese label is purchased from farmers at $16 perhundredweight (the market price at the time of writing is around the $9level) Milk is purchased from individual farmers and from the ScenicCentral Milk Producers Co-op another project of FFD Farmers sellingto the project must agree not to use recombinant bovine growthhormone to use sustainable methods of farming and to care foranimals in a humane way Family Farm Defenders and Cedar Grovecheese share marketing and distribution responsibilities and thecheese can be purchased by mail and through retail food cooperativesand natural foods stores throughout southern Wisconsin

The capacity to pay a fair price to farmers ultimately depends on thewillingness of consumers to pay a premium price for the cheese at retailoutlets This willingness is engendered by the cheesersquos distinctive labeland by other educational and outreach materials The FamilyFarmer Cheese label does not refer to fair trade or even fairness Itis distinctive however in its linking of farmers consumers and processor

Family Farm Defenders is a non-pro t organization composedof small family farmers and concerned consumers By choosingFamily Farmer brand you become part of an alliance workingtoward a safe sustainable food production system Our milkcomes from small dairy farmers who use no arti cial growthhormones (Family Farmer Cheese 2000)

Family Farm Defenders is comprised of non-farm citizens as well asfarmers and the organization takes a more systemic perspective than iscommonly encountered in alternative food initiatives Family FarmDefendersrsquo mission statement emphasizes not the virtues of localconsumption but the possibilities inherent in mobilization fordemocratic practice

We adhere to the principle of democracy by empoweringfarmers to speak for and represent themselves in the quest for

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 179

economic justice and responsible sustainable agriculturalpolicies the Family Farm Defenders is dedicated to speakingout against all the forces threatening the long-term survival ofrural America and to preserving a diverse safe and wholesomefood supply at an affordable price for consumers (Family FarmDefenders nd)

Midwest Food Alliance

The initiative that most closely resembles the characteristic criteria-certication-labeling arrangement of international (South-North) fairtrade may be that of the Midwest Food Alliance The Alliance hasestablished a set of lsquolsquoGuiding Principlesrsquorsquo which it uses as a frameworkfor formal third party certication of producers of meat freshvegetables and fruits Farm operations that conform to the guidingprinciples may use the lsquolsquoMidwest Food Alliance Approvedrsquorsquo seal tomarket their products The Alliance is engaged in an extensive programof consumer outreach and education as it attempts to make a placefor Alliance-labeled products in supermarkets in the Minneapolis-St Paul area

Though the superstructure of the Alliance program is similar to thelsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo fair trade model certain core elements of that paradigmare missing That the organizationrsquos literature and web site make noreference at all to lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is not necessarily surprising given thelack of engagement of all the US projects with that particularterminology But the Midwest Food Alliance also avoids an appeal to theneed for a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo or to the survival of small farmers Indeed inAlliance materials it is even dif cult to nd use of the term lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo so liberally deployed by the other initiatives we have reviewedNot only does the Midwest Food Alliance use the unquali ed termlsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo it also focuses more attention on the sustainability ofparticular production practices than on the survivability of particularkinds of farmers Farms should be lsquolsquopro tablersquorsquo but that pro tability isunderstood and presented by the Alliance as a function of effectivepresence in the marketplace and in the demands of consumers and notas an ethical or rights-based claim to a particular price While theproject works hard to create market access for the farmers they certifythe Alliance provides no oor price long-term contracts advancepayment or credit

The Midwest Food alliance is considerably less lsquolsquofarm-centricrsquorsquo thanthe other initiatives pro led here And paradoxically perhaps becauseof that orientation the project nds it appropriate to include theinterests of labor and the wider community in the guiding principles

180 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

which shape its certication process In addition to eight principlesrelating to agronomic and conservation practices farmers certi ed bythe Alliance must adhere to the following social axiom

Providing safe and fair working conditions for our employeesand our families For example we develop farm policies inorder to establish open channels for communicating workplacesafety and satisfaction We incorporate quality of life issuesinto our daily decision making process for ourselves ourfamilies our employees and our broader communities (Mid-west Food Alliance nd)

Without seeing the individual farm plans that must be drawn up forcerti ers it is dif cult to know how such generalities translate intoconcrete actions Still inclusion of what the Alliance calls lsquolsquohumanresource developmentrsquorsquo in its criteria is an important step towarda version of North-North fair trade that envisions justice for socialsectors beyond the lsquolsquofamily farmrsquorsquo

UFW Fair Trade Apple Campaign

If the Midwest Food Alliance has begun to address the interests andconcerns of agricultural workers the Fair Trade Apple Campaign of theUnited Farm Workers (UFW) union actually privileges labor as theprojectrsquos point of departure The UFW is well known for its efforts onbehalf of farm workersmdashparticularly the California grape boycottsmdashand has long sought to connect consumers to workersrsquo struggle for justtreatment in the nationrsquos fruit and vegetable elds The UFWrsquos base inLatino farmworker communities and its involvement in cross-borderlabor solidarity give the term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo an appealing resonance forthe UFW and the organization is explicit in terming its nascentinitiative the lsquolsquoWashington Fair Trade Apple Campaign (WAFTA)rsquorsquo

The apple industry is a highly globalized market Imported applesfrom Chile New Zealand and South Africa now compete intensely withthose grown in Washington and other states Washingtonrsquos familygrowers still the large majority of apple farmers are besieged bya combination of forces Consolidation in packing and distributionretail sourcing practices favoring the largest growers and delays of 12 to18 months in payment for their fruit have eroded growersrsquo market powerand pushed them into debilitating debt cycles (Jarosz and Qazi 20005ndash6Gamboa 2002) Growers receive only 11 percent of what consumers payat retail even though the retail pro t margin on apples is 32 percenthigher than for virtually any other grocery item (UFW 2001)

Squeezed from above small family apple growers often pass the painon to their workforce The statersquos apple workersmdashover 80 percent of

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 181

Mexican origin and often undocumentedmdashtake home an averageyearly salary of $7654 far below the poverty line (Jarosz and Qazi 2000BCGEU 2001) In both orchards and packing houses unions say thatworkers face discrimination are denied the right to organize andbargain collectively and do not enjoy health and safety protectionsguaranteed by state law (UFW 2001) Indeed the Washington appleindustry today remains 100 percent non-union (Gamboa 2002) Ratherthan focus their attention solely on laborrsquos immediate employersunions hoping to organize apple workers identify the structuraldynamics hurting both growers and workers

The US agricultural community grew and prospered on thevalues of a lsquolsquofair returnrsquorsquo for those who risk the most and a lsquolsquodecentwagersquorsquo for a hard dayrsquos work Todayrsquos new global economythreatens to erode these values even further The apple industryis unfair Smaller family-owned farms are going bankruptbecause corporations pay less per box than it costs growers tocultivate and harvest their crops (BCGEU 2001)

Accordingly the UFW is launching its Washington Fair Trade AppleCampaign as an lsquolsquoeconomic collaborationrsquorsquo with family growers andgrower collectives that lsquolsquouses consumer pressure on retailers to paygrowers more for their fruitrsquorsquo (BCGEU 2001) Having identied thegrowersrsquo entrapment in a cost-price squeeze as the root cause ofworkersrsquo problems the union hopes that rather than pitting growersagainst labor both will gain if family apple farmers were to receive a fairprice Guadalupe Gamboa the UFWrsquos National Vice President anddirector of the apple campaign insists that workersrsquo resentment fortheir poor conditions is not directed principally at family growers

[It] is mainly against the packers the companies who are theworst abusers of workers The problem in the past is that familygrowers have identied with the big companies Wersquore trying tobreak that by showing them that theyrsquore more like the workersbecause they donrsquot have any say in the price they get (2002)

The fair trade apple campaign will label apples produced under thisgrower-worker collaboration with the UFWrsquos black eagle symbol(Paynter 2001) The seal will be conditioned upon growersrsquo enteringinto collective bargaining agreements with the UFW guaranteeingbetter wages health and safety guarantees and respect for basic laborlaws (eg workers compensation) In return the union hopes to offersmall growers volume buying long-term contracts and better and moreconsistent prices by bypassing distributors and negotiating directly withmajor grocery chains interested in the seal The fruit will initially besold in the largest west coast citiesmdashincluding Seattle Sacramento

182 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

San Francisco and Los Angelesmdashviewed by the union as lsquolsquosolidaritymarketsrsquorsquo (Gamboa 2002) where recognition of the UFW and sympathyfor farmworker issues run high

Rather than setting a minimum lsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price as in fair trade coffeethe fair trade apple initiative centers upon a living wage and respect forlabor rights much like the lsquolsquoplantation modalityrsquorsquo of the internationalfair trade movement The UFW is asserting that such rights are centralto the trading equation The union draws parallels between fair tradeapples fairly traded coffee and international anti-sweatshop campaignsall of which seek to reform lsquolsquounjustrsquorsquo practices in their respective in-dustries through consumer education and pressure

South-South Initiatives Inclusion

A key question in realizing the promise of fair trade initiatives togenerate greater social equity and justice is their inclusiveness If accessto fair trade markets is constrained by entry barriers such as qualitystandards or competition between producer groups for limited marketdemand the movementrsquos transformative potential will be limitedGoodman and Goodman (2001115) frame clearly the challenge posedby the quality issue

while fair trade organic has opened up lsquolsquospaces of inclusionrsquorsquofor small-scale producers the dictates of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquo act as anexclusionary force at odds with the relational ethic of themovement Many producers typically the poorest in bothresources and natural endowments even if they can meet thecosts of organic certication may be excluded from thenetwork because of the strict quality standards imposed byimporters and suppliers

In addition producing for high-value global niche markets bringsboth opportunities and a new set of demands and complexities for ruralproducers (Ericson 1999) These markets with their concomitantdemands for product consistency quantity quality and timely deliveryand pressures to adapt to ckle consumer tastes and styles can posethreats to community well-being and cohesion particularly in highlytraditional and indigenous communities

The potential for exclusion assert Goodman and Goodman (2001115) extends to the sites of consumption as well as production

the premium attached to fair trade organic [products]makes them high-priced luxury items out of reach of theeveryday purchases of lower-income consumers Nor is theremuch consumption of these products in either the local orregional Southern contexts of their production [ ] new

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 183

institutional mechanisms will be needed to promote moresocially inclusive patterns of sustainable consumption

However there are emerging fair trade initiatives located within theglobal South that provide provocative responses to these very problemsand pose a challenge both to the conceptualization of socially consciousconsumerism and to the balance of power within the fair trademovement Some of the most promising of these initiatives are takingplace in Mexico and we turn now to examining two of them

Comercio Justo Mexico

Mexico was the birthplace of the international fair trade movement in itscurrent form The original fair trade sealmdashMax Havelaarmdashwas created inresponse to the request of organized Mexican coffee producers foraccess on equitable terms and in signi cant quantities to Europeanmarkets For the rst time lsquolsquofairly-producedrsquorsquo commodities were tradedwith suf cient volume to generate real social bene ts for small farmersUnder these fair trade arrangements some coffee and honey producerassociations have realized improvements in social and economicconditions for their families and communities (Pruyn 2001)

However it has become clear that international fair trade sales are notand will not become a panacea even for coffee growers Despite Mexicorsquosstatus as the worldrsquos largest exporter of fair trade coffee (Raynolds 2000)international consumer demand remains far below supply and not allcommunities can afford organic certication or are appropriatelylocated to produce quality high-grown arabica coffeemdashboth virtuallyrequirements to enter the Northern fair trade market Other productssuch as bananas cacao and orange juice are in the very early stages of fairtrade market development The vast majority of peasant farmersmoreover are not even geographically situated to grow these potentiallyhigh-value crops

Mexican civil society groups and organized producer groups came torealize that even with enormous growth fair trade exports could neverconstitute a major development solution in and of themselves Forall but a few of the best organized coffee cooperatives for exampleNorthern fair trade markets represent only a small fraction of theirsales and at best a modest additional increment to producersrsquo incomes

In response these organizations formed Comercio Justo Mexico (FairTrade Mexico) in 1999 with a vision of building a domestic fair trademarket The organization has developed a Mexican fair trade label whichmade its debut in 2001 and is the rst such seal in a Southern nation

[T]hese Mexican small producers do not only sell their goodson the international fair trade market A signi cant part of

184 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

their production continues to be sold in the domestic marketwhich is equally plagued by destructive intermediarism Thesmall producers need our nationrsquos internal market to generatemore just trading relations and they need consumers torecognize their products The lsquolsquoFair Trade Seal of Mexicorsquorsquomakes it possible for these small producers to distinguish theirproducts and allows the consumer to have trust thatmdashwiththeir purchasemdashthey are helping the Mexican farmers most inneed (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001a)

This comprehensive initiative is composed of three separate entitiesComercio Justo Mexico AC (Fair Trade Mexico) is a promotional andeducational group that combines several civil society development NGOsand peasant producer organizations Agromercados SA (Agromarkets)is a marketing body for fair trade products owned by the small producermember organizations (of each speci c product) themselves AndCertimex an independent Mexican organic certier is responsible formonitoring adherence to fair trade criteria Agromercados is establish-ing a chain of coffee shops in numerous cities to promote the sale oforganic and fair trade coffee and has created a single domestic fair tradecoffee brand label (Cafe Fertil) for all its small coffee producer members

With direct participation from grassroots producer groups and civilsociety organizations Comercio Justo has developed a set of general fairtrade criteria based on international standards as well as speci c qualityand certication standards for coffee and is doing the same for fourother products cacao honey handicrafts and basic grains (principallycorn) Comercio Justo stresses that its system is designed for organizedpeasant producers andmdashunlike international fair trade certiersmdashitdoes not intend to develop a separate lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo for plantationagriculture or wage labor

If building demand for fair trade products in the rich North isa formidable task creating a domestic fair trade market in the ThirdWorld would seem a challenge of Herculean proportions HoweverComercio Justo believes that socially conscious consumerism is not re-stricted to those with discretionary incomeThe group insists that by elim-inating intermediaries fairly traded products can be sold at a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo priceto the producer will be competitive with comparable conventionallyproduced goods and can even help address long-standing complaintsabout the quality of domestic products

The low prices paid to small producers on the national marketmean that the best Mexican products are exported Fair Trademakes it possible for small producers to also receive digniedprices in the national market and to not depend exclusively onexport (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001b)

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 185

The group is already selling fair trade labeled Cafe Fertil in mainstreamsupermarkets and restaurants through contracts with large retailersaccompanied by major promotion and consumer education campaignsa strategy that has been key to the success of fair trade coffee bananasand chocolate in Europe

The development of a Southern national fair trade seal also raisesinteresting issues of power and control within the fair trade movementAt stake here is the very potent question of who is empowered to certifywhom in the international fair trade movement Despite the fact thatSouthern producers do participate as members in some internationalfair trade organizations the agenda priorities and criteria for fairtrade have to date been set in the North (Renard 2003 Raynolds 2000)Other authors also note the lsquolsquoasymmetries of power at work in decidingwhat is fairrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001114) The Mexican fairtrade seal says Comercio Justo constitutes a lsquolsquosocial certicationrsquorsquo withone part of civil society certifyingmdashand regulatingmdashanother part of thesociety As such it enrolls both Southern producers and Southernconsumers in the process of (re)constructing what Renard (1999484)calls fair tradersquos lsquolsquosymbolic social meaningrsquorsquo

Fair Trade Tortillerias

One of the partners in the Comercio Justo Mexico network is ANECthe National Association of Peasant Marketing Enterprises ANECwhich represents small- to medium-sized producers of basic grains in 20of Mexicorsquos 31 states is engaged in a separate but related initiative thatspeaks to a key Mexican grievance over lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquomdashthe majorongoing rural crisis precipitated by the opening of the Mexican marketunder NAFTA Low quality imported corn mainly from the US hasundercut even the most ef cient Mexican producers and contributedto the rural exodus to large cities and to the US The quality of tortillashas declined in tandem (with an increasing proportion of dry cornmeal as opposed to whole-ground corn present in even lsquolsquofreshrsquorsquotortillas) and prices have soared as the last federal subsidies and pricecontrols are eliminated (Suarez 2002)

ANECrsquos vision is ambitious a national chain of tortillerias sellingfresh-ground tortillas made with GMO-free Mexican corn grown by theorganizationrsquos members and certied with the Comercio Justo Mexicoseal As of this writing ANEC has opened three tortillerias and hopes toexpand to 20 states by 2005 and nationwide (via franchises) by 2007Victor Suarez ANECrsquos Executive Director asserts that the seal holdsrelevance for domestic consumers

The fair trade seal plays the role of assuring the buyer that thetortilla has a guarantee in all phases of the process [that it

186 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

small farmers and more environmentally sustainable pro-duction

Rink Dickinson Co-Director Equal Exchange (2000)

There is probably no human society in which food has not been seento carry the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to which Sidney Mintz refers How and whycertain foods come to be imbued with characteristics that make themeither taboo (eg the abominations of Leviticus) or sacramental (egtaro among Polynesian peoples) is a matter of considerable interest Asan example of this linkage of foodstuff and morality Mintz (1996 72)describes the efforts of late eighteenth century British abolitionists toundermine the institution of slavery by arguing that consumption ofsugar produced as it was by slaves was tantamount to murder Suchdeliberate ethical valencing of a particular food for social or political(or now commercial) purposes is a more or less modern phenomenonCertainly this active and relatively transparent construction of themoral charge is a de ning characteristic of what has come to be knownas the lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo movement

Fair trade is typically understood as an alternative market system thataims to right the historically inequitable terms of trade between thegeopolitical North and South It is founded on the notion that someconsumers will select certain foods based on the ethical characteristicsthey are seen to embody Fair trade thus links Third World producers oftropical foodstuffs more directly with consumers in industrializednations It is in that nexus that Raynolds (2002404) locates the lsquolsquotruesigni cancersquorsquo of fair trade lsquolsquoits ability to create new consumerproducerlinks which span the North South dividersquorsquo Those linksmdashsociallyembedded as they are in shared lsquolsquovalues of solidarity and fairnessrsquorsquo(Renard 1999 496) rather than in the values of the marketmdashareimportant in turn for the lsquolsquochallenge they raise to the abstract capitalistrelations that fuel exploitation in the agro-food systemrsquorsquo (Raynolds2000 298)

While fair trade has to date been framed exclusively as a systemlinking southern producers of primary commodities (coffee bananascocoa tea) more directly with socially responsible consumers in theNorth Raynoldsrsquo lsquolsquoprogressive new consumerproducer linksrsquorsquo (20011)are precisely what many sustainable food initiatives within the UnitedStates and within the global South are also intended to achieve Anumber of Northern undertakings share many of the structuralelements that are characteristic of international fair trade and a fewsuch projects have begun explicitly utilizing the rubric of lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo toframe their approach to building agro-food sustainability There aremoreover sustainable food system initiatives intended to forge relation-

170 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

ships between producers and consumers that are entirely endogenousto countries of the South These too exhibit a close kinship to what isconventionally understood as fair trade In this article we suggest thata more expansive application of the term fair trade to encompass agro-food initiatives within both North and South as well as between North andSouth has considerable analytic and practical utility Fair trade weargue is not necessarily far trade

The recent burgeoning of studies on alternative agro-food networksin Europe and North America has taken the lsquolsquoturn to qualityrsquorsquo as itsleitmotif (see especially the collection of essays published in Journal ofRural Studies 19 2003) David Goodman (20032) notes that thisliterature has utilized three principal analytic categoriesmdashqualityembeddedness and the localmdashin its explorations of alternatives topricemarket hegemony in food systems With few exceptions howeverissues associated with equity have not been systematically engaged Wesuggest that the Northern and Southern fair trade initiatives pro ledhere all of which attempt to mobilize some version of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo asa means of connecting producers to consumers offer the new categoryof lsquolsquoequityrsquorsquo to those interested in understanding and assessing the lsquolsquoturnto qualityrsquorsquo in markets for food products

We share Raynoldsrsquo belief that fair trade wherever one nds it mayindeed mount a fundamental challenge to the domination of the agro-food system by powerful corporations and the straitened ethics of theneo-liberal market Not everyone is so sanguine however Forms oflsquolsquogreen consumerismrsquorsquo have been faulted for eschewing social mobiliza-tion and direct political action in favor of the contradictory promotion ofsocial change through consumption (Allen and Kovach 2000 Klein1999 Winter 2003) Critics of fair trade though not unappreciative of itsprogressive potential have pointed out a variety of questions that mustbe addressed if fair trade is to realize its transformative promise Theseconcerns include the privileged position of farmers as opposed to wagedlabor the accessibility of fairly traded products to low income consumersthe robustness and character of the ethical linkages established acrosssocial and physical space and the extent to which such linkages actuallybecome the foundations for broader social or political challenges to theconventional global agro-food system and the overarching set ofcorporatist and capitalist relationships in which that system is embeddedGoodman and Goodman (2001114) posit the challenge succinctly

the alternative trade movement must nd ways of in-corporating low-income consumers into its networks whilemaintaining its commitment to price premiums and long-termcontracts for producers Moreover fair trade organic must

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 171

extend its reach beyond the nutritionally rather insigni cantcommodities of coffee and chocolate and enroll large-scaleretailers and socially excluded consumers into a more broadlybased coalition which prioritises its political commitments

Just as these concerns apply to fair trade between North and Souththey are also applicable to our exploration of the manifestations of fairtrade within Northern and Southern spheres We suggest that theseprojects and undertakings are uncovering possible routes around andthrough such contradictions Notably the explicitly social content of fairtradersquos lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo is a critical element that may allow fair trademdashbetween and within North and Southmdashto assume an important role inthe struggle to achieve a food system the sustainability of which ispredicated on both social justice and ecological integrity Assessingthe manner in which concerns for equity engage participants in alter-native agro-food networks can illuminate the extent to which such net-works might ful ll their promise as transformative vehicles rather thanfall prey to tendencies toward lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo (Hinrichs 2003Winter 2003)

Whatrsquos Fair is Far Tapping Into the Moral Charge inInternational Trade

The unfairness of international terms of trade between Northern centersand Southern peripheriesmdashlsquolsquounequal exchangersquorsquomdashwas long the focus ofdependency theory and its many variations (Amin 1976 Roxborough1979) and today remains a key element of the contemporary debate overglobalization (Greider 1997 McMichael 1996) An enduring feature ofNorth-South trade relations has been the displacement of small andindependent producers by export crops and the subversion of theireconomic position by cheap agricultural imports

From at least the days of the British abolitionists who rejected slave-produced sugar there have been people of good will unwilling toaccept this state of affairs The 1960s 1970s and 1980s saw the birthof a wide range of lsquolsquoalternative trade organizationsrsquorsquo (ATOs) smallbusinesses or civil society organizations primarily in Europe thatestablished a network of shops to sell products from small or poorproducers in the Third World who had no markets (handicrafts) weretrapped in inequitably structured markets (eg coffee) or whosemarkets had been closed by political at (eg Nicaragua) The volumeof fair trade and the number of participants engaged in that activitybecame large enough to take on lsquolsquomovementrsquorsquo status in popular andacademic accounts The cry of this nascent movement which emerged

172 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

from progressive development NGOs was lsquolsquotrade not aidrsquorsquo (Renard200389)

A watershed event for the fair trade movement was the creation ofthe Max Havelaar label in the Netherlands in 1988 The Dutchdevelopment organization Solidaridad was approached by Mexicancoffee farmers from the UCIRI cooperative in Oaxaca state who wereseeking to expand markets for their product beyond token salesthrough European lsquolsquoworld shopsrsquorsquo Solidaridad created a fair trade labelwhich could be placed on coffee sold under any brand in mainstreamretail venues (Renard 2000) Max Havelaar licenses the use of the labelto coffee roasters and retailers who agree to be certied for theircompliance with its criteria of fairness in trade The label somewhatlike its eco-label counterparts on organic foods is intended to conductto the prospective purchaser the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo the coffee can beunderstood to carry as a result of the conditions of its production Therapid growth of fair trade organizations in Europe during the 1980s andthe US during the 1990s and the creation of an internationalcerti cation body in 1997 re ect the degree to which this form ofalternative trade is being institutionalized

The core principle of fair trade initiatives is obtaining a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquofor Southern producersrsquo goods by making commodity chains bothshorter and fairer Through alternative trade networks that bypasstraditional intermediaries small farmers and producer organizationsare able in some cases to reap as much as 40 percent of the nalpurchase price But fair trade organizations make it clear that theconnectivity they hope to foster between Southern producers andNorthern consumers goes far beyond the narrow objective of priceAccording to certier TransFair USA

Fair trade bene ts many From farmers in producer countriesto students in a US school studying the environment theconcept and practice of fair trade connects producers andconsumers in new and powerful ways It is the nexus formeeting both environmental and economic considerations ofindigenous peoples re-balancing the trading relationshipbetween North and South building a link between US policyand publics to a larger world community that is knocking at thedoor (20021)

Raynoldsrsquo assertion that fair trade lsquolsquosuggests provocative possibilitiesfor socially re-linking production trade and consumption andchallenging the domination of the agro-food system by oligopolistictransnational corporationsrsquorsquo (20011) may appear hyperbolic but this isprecisely what fair trade organizations intend

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 173

In order to receive fair trade certication these production ar-rangements must meet speci ed criteria While various fair trade or-ganizations phrase the standards somewhat differently Table 1 lists themost commonly used criteria drawn from a variety of fair tradeschemata Producers typically must receive a guaranteed minimum orlsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price to cover production costs and protect against market uctuations as well as a lsquolsquosocial premiumrsquorsquo directed to social de-velopment Other criteria include providing credit or partial pay-ment in advance of harvest long-term trading contracts nancialtransparency environmentally-sound practices and increased controlby producers over marketing and production (Fair Trade Federation2000) Fair trade certiers have also developed a second lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo tocertify fairness in crops such as bananas and tea which are producedlargely on plantations by waged workers These standards includepayment of a lsquolsquoliving wagersquorsquo decent working conditions and respect forthe right to join unions (Pruyn 2001) Coffee was the rst fairly tradedfood commodity and remains the most signi cant with 240 producerorganizations now on the international fair trade coffee registerrepresenting 490000 grower families Certication has now expandedto other products including bananas tea sugar cocoa honeypineapples mangoes and orange juice (Theunissen 2002 Rice2001) Worldwide sales of certied fair trade products grew 22 percentin 2001 to reach $235 million bene ting 800000 families Fair tradebananas coffee and chocolate have captured an important share of themarket in several western European nations (FLO 2002a)

However it is not yet clear whether fair trade as currently constitutedcan become more than a marginal alternative and assume a role as a realforce for the reform and even transformation of conventional unequalexchange relationships It is this issue that most concerns DavidGoodman and Michael Goodman in their review of the lsquolsquosocialimaginariesrsquorsquo of organic agriculture eco-labeling and fair trade

Table 1 Most Common Fair Trade Criteria

n Fair prices to producers fair wages to laborers ( oor or minimum priceswages socialdevelopment premium)

n Advance credit or payment to producersn Democratically run producer cooperatives or workplacesn Long-term contracts and trading relationshipsn Environmentally sustainable production practicesn Public accountability and nancial transparencyn Financial and technical assistance to producersn Safe non-exploitative working conditions

(Sources Global Exchange 2002 Equal Exchange 2002 FLO 2002b TransFair USA2002 Fair Trade Federation 2002)

174 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Progressive change requires a lsquolsquosymmetrical socio-ecologicalrsquorsquo concep-tualization of sustainability that facilitates political engagement(Goodman and Goodman 2001115) Yet the current technocentricstandards-based construction of lsquolsquoorganicrsquorsquo and of most eco-labelsignores the social conditions of production and these manifestationsof lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo are coming to approximate conventional agro-foodsystems in their patterns of farm structure labor organization andmarketing (Guthman 2000) In contrast Goodman and Goodman(2001111) nd fair trade labels to be uniquely potent since theyencompass lsquolsquoboth organic production processes and the bundle ofethical labour and commercial practices which encode alternative eco-social production relations into the constitution of these productsrsquorsquoThe fair trade networkrsquos eco-social imaginaries they assert offera deeper richer and more radical promise of transformation

We argue that the bundle of core elements that constitute fair trade arenot found only in the international arrangements to which the term isconventionally applied but can also be applied to the activities of somealternative agro-food networks within the North and within the South Iffair trade can indeed facilitate action at such a distance that it createsa moral and a material connectivity across continents should it not alsofunction similarly across shorter distances If fair trade is so compellingand engaging a discursive construct for socially embedding Dutchconsumer behavior in regard to Mexican coffee might it not functionsimilarly in shaping the choices a Wisconsin consumer makes in buyingcheese or the way a resident of Mexico City decides to purchase tortillas

These questions so far have not been engaged by the literatures oncontemporary agro-food transformations Fair trade has been treated asa special and somewhat idiosyncratic case within the larger set ofalternativesustainable food problematics This is somewhat curioussince the features of fair trade initiatives intersect with the key analyticsof placelocality social embeddedness and quality But studies of theconstruction of short food supply chains in Europe (eg Marsden et al1999 Miele 1999) do not reference the parallel efforts of Third Worldfair trade producers to circumvent intermediaries and jump-start ruraldevelopment Analyses of the social embeddedness associated withalternative and direct marketing of foods have not foregroundedconsiderations of equity even as fair trade coffee is sold at farmersmarkets alongside local produce The intense examination of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquonow under way does not substantively encompass lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo as a meansof framing preferences (Goodman 2003 Winter 2003)

As Whatmore and Thorne note lsquolsquoperformance of lsquofairnessrsquo ratherthan charityrsquorsquo is a powerful means of establishing lsquolsquoconnectivityrsquorsquobetween peasant and indigenous coffee producers in the South and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 175

consumers in the North (1997299) This performance is also at work ina number of initiatives both within the North and within the SouthExploring the construction and deployment of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo on thesemore limited terrains is both theoretically and practically useful and wenow turn our attention in this direction

North-North Initiatives Convergence

One of the de ning features of economic globalization is that it tiestogether the fates of people at opposite corners of the earth in new andcomplex ways In the second of the two quotes that open this article RinkDickinson co-director of Equal Exchange Coffee highlights the simi-larity in the structural position of many farmers in both the North andSouth His comment describes a project called Red Tomato which bringsthe produce of southern small farmers to New England grocery stores

The Equal Exchange warehouse houses organic coffee frompeasant farmers in Oaxaca Mexico It houses watermelonsfrom disadvantaged black farmers from Georgia SouthCarolina and other parts of the south Both the watermelonand the coffee farmers have created co-ops to arrangemarketing and give them a chance against larger growers andprocessors The implications of this convergence between thework of the watermelon farmers peach farmers tea growersand coffee farmers is immense (20002)

In this structural and institutional lsquolsquoconvergencersquorsquo Dickinson explicitlysees an opportunity for lsquolsquobringing fair trade ideals to US farmersrsquorsquo andfor developing fair trade marketing in local regional and nationalcontexts as well as in the international frame

How might we assess Dickinsonrsquos ambition Are there indeed extantor emerging initiatives focused on marketing within in the UnitedStates that might plausibly fall under the rubric of lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo In factthere is a variety of such undertakings in all regions of the country Inorder to provide an empirical platform for further discussion we nowpro le ve of these initiatives with particular attention to the extent towhich these endogenous projects share characteristics commonlyassociated with North-South fair trade (see Table 1)

Red Tomato

Red Tomato is a marketing organization based in Canton Massachusettsthat distributes fresh fruits and vegetables from family farmers to retailsupermarkets food cooperatives and institutions in the Boston areaIf there is one initiative that might be expected to approximate theSouthNorth fair trade model most closely it is Red Tomato The

176 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

project was started in 1997 by Michael Rozyne who had earlier beena founder of Equal Exchange From direct conversations with staff itwas apparent to us that fair trade principles undergird Red Tomatorsquosapproach to facilitating market access for small sustainable farmersBut apart from a commitment to assuring a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo and to theestablishment of lsquolsquolong-term pricing agreementsrsquorsquo these principlesremain largely implicit in the organizationrsquos public face Indeed thewords lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo are almost completely absent from Red Tomatorsquospublic materials and point of sale advertising The only use of the termin its principal brochure comes in a description of its sibling EqualExchange

Dickinson (20002) explicitly outlines the similarities in the roles ofRed Tomato and Equal Exchange

Both groups are committed to connecting consumers tofarmers Both are actively engaged in the marketplace but arenot for pro t maximizing Both Equal Exchange and RedTomato are working with disadvantaged producers and bothare driven by cultures of worker innovation and control

Nevertheless Red Tomato has quite deliberately chosen to frame itspublic message in terms more familiar to North American consumersAccording to its brochure

Red Tomato is a nonpro t marketing organization that helpsfamily farmers survive and helps make sure that local people can nd high-quality affordable local produce (Red Tomato nd)

Rather than the formal certication and labeling characteristic ofSouth-North approaches to fair trade Red Tomato has chosen todevelop a lsquolsquobrandrsquorsquo of its own and that brand image does not include anexplicit fair trade element By way of explanation a Red Tomato staffmember distinguishes between lsquolsquofollowing fair trade principles versuscertifying or using fair trade principles to certifyrsquorsquo She is lsquolsquoverycomfortable saying Red Tomato follows fair trade principlesrsquorsquo but feelsthat many consumers in the United States are not now suf cientlyinformed or well enough developed politically to respond to a formalfair trade campaign focused on domestic produce and Americanfarmers (Red Tomato 2002)

Federation of Southern Cooperatives

Ironically fair trade is foregrounded by the Federation of SouthernCooperatives That organization is partnering with Red Tomato to bringto the New England market the watermelons and other produce grownby African-American family farmers in seven Southeastern states This

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 177

marketing relationship with a democratically run cooperative repre-sents another of the ways in which Red Tomatorsquos practices correspondto those found in South-North fair trading arrangements But whereRed Tomato prefers to accent the family farmlocalistenvironmentaldimensions of its product line the Federation of Southern Coopera-tives makes an unambiguous effort to deploy the moral charge of fairtrade in its outreach A Federation press release (20001) describing therelationship with Red Tomato is headlined lsquolsquoFederationLAF Engagedin lsquoFair Tradersquo Practices to Serve Family Farmers and Customersrsquorsquo andstates

Our goal at the FederationLAF is to make sure farmers aretreated fairly in the marketplace We want lsquofair tradersquo forfarmersmdashone that rst considers the farmerrsquos costs and pro t[ ] we hope it will serve as a model for family farmers acrossthe country

The FederationRed Tomato project directly addresses concernsfamiliar to the Latin American and African coffee farmers with whomEqual Exchange is accustomed to dealing the power of distributors andretailers the desire for collective action by producers and for closerlinkages with consumers the need for long-term contracts and ofcourse for a fair price

The FederationLAF rst asked the farmers what they consid-ered to be a fair price for their watermelon Once that wasdetermined all their costs were factored in above the farmerrsquosprice such as transportation and other overhead costs The FairTrade model considers the farmer rst and foremost and byeliminating the lsquolsquomiddlemanrsquorsquo the consumers also have a moredirect relationship with farmers which is a win-win situation forall concerned (Federation of Southern Cooperatives 20001)

The Federation then clearly sees the lsquolsquoconvergencersquorsquo referred to byDickinson and appreciates the potential of domestic fair trade directlymobilizing the language of fair trade to illustrate both the disadvan-tages its members face and the route to improving their situation

Family Farmer Cheese

Family Farmer Cheese is a joint project of the Wisconsin-based dairyfarm advocacy group Family Farm Defenders (FFD) and a cheesemanufacturer Cedar Grove Cheese Founded in the 1970s FFD haslong been actively involved in struggles to reform federal milkmarketing regulations and pricing policies oppose the new biotech-nologies and counter agribusiness consolidation Recognizing that

178 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

efforts to in uence federal legislation were important but slow theorganization sought ways to keep small dairy farmers in business in theshort run Family Farm Defendersrsquo leadership met with a localcheesemaker whose small family-owned factory was one of the fewsurviving facilities in what had once been a thriving regional industryAccording to FFD founder Francis Goodman lsquolsquoWe decided to marketa cheese brand based on a fair relationship between trading partnersproviding consumers an opportunity to vote for family dairy farms withtheir food dollars and providing family dairy farmers nancial securityrsquorsquo(Leinberger 19991)

The critical foundations of the Family Farmer Cheese initiative area guaranteed price for milk and a label All cheese sold under theFamily Farmer Cheese label is purchased from farmers at $16 perhundredweight (the market price at the time of writing is around the $9level) Milk is purchased from individual farmers and from the ScenicCentral Milk Producers Co-op another project of FFD Farmers sellingto the project must agree not to use recombinant bovine growthhormone to use sustainable methods of farming and to care foranimals in a humane way Family Farm Defenders and Cedar Grovecheese share marketing and distribution responsibilities and thecheese can be purchased by mail and through retail food cooperativesand natural foods stores throughout southern Wisconsin

The capacity to pay a fair price to farmers ultimately depends on thewillingness of consumers to pay a premium price for the cheese at retailoutlets This willingness is engendered by the cheesersquos distinctive labeland by other educational and outreach materials The FamilyFarmer Cheese label does not refer to fair trade or even fairness Itis distinctive however in its linking of farmers consumers and processor

Family Farm Defenders is a non-pro t organization composedof small family farmers and concerned consumers By choosingFamily Farmer brand you become part of an alliance workingtoward a safe sustainable food production system Our milkcomes from small dairy farmers who use no arti cial growthhormones (Family Farmer Cheese 2000)

Family Farm Defenders is comprised of non-farm citizens as well asfarmers and the organization takes a more systemic perspective than iscommonly encountered in alternative food initiatives Family FarmDefendersrsquo mission statement emphasizes not the virtues of localconsumption but the possibilities inherent in mobilization fordemocratic practice

We adhere to the principle of democracy by empoweringfarmers to speak for and represent themselves in the quest for

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 179

economic justice and responsible sustainable agriculturalpolicies the Family Farm Defenders is dedicated to speakingout against all the forces threatening the long-term survival ofrural America and to preserving a diverse safe and wholesomefood supply at an affordable price for consumers (Family FarmDefenders nd)

Midwest Food Alliance

The initiative that most closely resembles the characteristic criteria-certication-labeling arrangement of international (South-North) fairtrade may be that of the Midwest Food Alliance The Alliance hasestablished a set of lsquolsquoGuiding Principlesrsquorsquo which it uses as a frameworkfor formal third party certication of producers of meat freshvegetables and fruits Farm operations that conform to the guidingprinciples may use the lsquolsquoMidwest Food Alliance Approvedrsquorsquo seal tomarket their products The Alliance is engaged in an extensive programof consumer outreach and education as it attempts to make a placefor Alliance-labeled products in supermarkets in the Minneapolis-St Paul area

Though the superstructure of the Alliance program is similar to thelsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo fair trade model certain core elements of that paradigmare missing That the organizationrsquos literature and web site make noreference at all to lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is not necessarily surprising given thelack of engagement of all the US projects with that particularterminology But the Midwest Food Alliance also avoids an appeal to theneed for a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo or to the survival of small farmers Indeed inAlliance materials it is even dif cult to nd use of the term lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo so liberally deployed by the other initiatives we have reviewedNot only does the Midwest Food Alliance use the unquali ed termlsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo it also focuses more attention on the sustainability ofparticular production practices than on the survivability of particularkinds of farmers Farms should be lsquolsquopro tablersquorsquo but that pro tability isunderstood and presented by the Alliance as a function of effectivepresence in the marketplace and in the demands of consumers and notas an ethical or rights-based claim to a particular price While theproject works hard to create market access for the farmers they certifythe Alliance provides no oor price long-term contracts advancepayment or credit

The Midwest Food alliance is considerably less lsquolsquofarm-centricrsquorsquo thanthe other initiatives pro led here And paradoxically perhaps becauseof that orientation the project nds it appropriate to include theinterests of labor and the wider community in the guiding principles

180 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

which shape its certication process In addition to eight principlesrelating to agronomic and conservation practices farmers certi ed bythe Alliance must adhere to the following social axiom

Providing safe and fair working conditions for our employeesand our families For example we develop farm policies inorder to establish open channels for communicating workplacesafety and satisfaction We incorporate quality of life issuesinto our daily decision making process for ourselves ourfamilies our employees and our broader communities (Mid-west Food Alliance nd)

Without seeing the individual farm plans that must be drawn up forcerti ers it is dif cult to know how such generalities translate intoconcrete actions Still inclusion of what the Alliance calls lsquolsquohumanresource developmentrsquorsquo in its criteria is an important step towarda version of North-North fair trade that envisions justice for socialsectors beyond the lsquolsquofamily farmrsquorsquo

UFW Fair Trade Apple Campaign

If the Midwest Food Alliance has begun to address the interests andconcerns of agricultural workers the Fair Trade Apple Campaign of theUnited Farm Workers (UFW) union actually privileges labor as theprojectrsquos point of departure The UFW is well known for its efforts onbehalf of farm workersmdashparticularly the California grape boycottsmdashand has long sought to connect consumers to workersrsquo struggle for justtreatment in the nationrsquos fruit and vegetable elds The UFWrsquos base inLatino farmworker communities and its involvement in cross-borderlabor solidarity give the term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo an appealing resonance forthe UFW and the organization is explicit in terming its nascentinitiative the lsquolsquoWashington Fair Trade Apple Campaign (WAFTA)rsquorsquo

The apple industry is a highly globalized market Imported applesfrom Chile New Zealand and South Africa now compete intensely withthose grown in Washington and other states Washingtonrsquos familygrowers still the large majority of apple farmers are besieged bya combination of forces Consolidation in packing and distributionretail sourcing practices favoring the largest growers and delays of 12 to18 months in payment for their fruit have eroded growersrsquo market powerand pushed them into debilitating debt cycles (Jarosz and Qazi 20005ndash6Gamboa 2002) Growers receive only 11 percent of what consumers payat retail even though the retail pro t margin on apples is 32 percenthigher than for virtually any other grocery item (UFW 2001)

Squeezed from above small family apple growers often pass the painon to their workforce The statersquos apple workersmdashover 80 percent of

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 181

Mexican origin and often undocumentedmdashtake home an averageyearly salary of $7654 far below the poverty line (Jarosz and Qazi 2000BCGEU 2001) In both orchards and packing houses unions say thatworkers face discrimination are denied the right to organize andbargain collectively and do not enjoy health and safety protectionsguaranteed by state law (UFW 2001) Indeed the Washington appleindustry today remains 100 percent non-union (Gamboa 2002) Ratherthan focus their attention solely on laborrsquos immediate employersunions hoping to organize apple workers identify the structuraldynamics hurting both growers and workers

The US agricultural community grew and prospered on thevalues of a lsquolsquofair returnrsquorsquo for those who risk the most and a lsquolsquodecentwagersquorsquo for a hard dayrsquos work Todayrsquos new global economythreatens to erode these values even further The apple industryis unfair Smaller family-owned farms are going bankruptbecause corporations pay less per box than it costs growers tocultivate and harvest their crops (BCGEU 2001)

Accordingly the UFW is launching its Washington Fair Trade AppleCampaign as an lsquolsquoeconomic collaborationrsquorsquo with family growers andgrower collectives that lsquolsquouses consumer pressure on retailers to paygrowers more for their fruitrsquorsquo (BCGEU 2001) Having identied thegrowersrsquo entrapment in a cost-price squeeze as the root cause ofworkersrsquo problems the union hopes that rather than pitting growersagainst labor both will gain if family apple farmers were to receive a fairprice Guadalupe Gamboa the UFWrsquos National Vice President anddirector of the apple campaign insists that workersrsquo resentment fortheir poor conditions is not directed principally at family growers

[It] is mainly against the packers the companies who are theworst abusers of workers The problem in the past is that familygrowers have identied with the big companies Wersquore trying tobreak that by showing them that theyrsquore more like the workersbecause they donrsquot have any say in the price they get (2002)

The fair trade apple campaign will label apples produced under thisgrower-worker collaboration with the UFWrsquos black eagle symbol(Paynter 2001) The seal will be conditioned upon growersrsquo enteringinto collective bargaining agreements with the UFW guaranteeingbetter wages health and safety guarantees and respect for basic laborlaws (eg workers compensation) In return the union hopes to offersmall growers volume buying long-term contracts and better and moreconsistent prices by bypassing distributors and negotiating directly withmajor grocery chains interested in the seal The fruit will initially besold in the largest west coast citiesmdashincluding Seattle Sacramento

182 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

San Francisco and Los Angelesmdashviewed by the union as lsquolsquosolidaritymarketsrsquorsquo (Gamboa 2002) where recognition of the UFW and sympathyfor farmworker issues run high

Rather than setting a minimum lsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price as in fair trade coffeethe fair trade apple initiative centers upon a living wage and respect forlabor rights much like the lsquolsquoplantation modalityrsquorsquo of the internationalfair trade movement The UFW is asserting that such rights are centralto the trading equation The union draws parallels between fair tradeapples fairly traded coffee and international anti-sweatshop campaignsall of which seek to reform lsquolsquounjustrsquorsquo practices in their respective in-dustries through consumer education and pressure

South-South Initiatives Inclusion

A key question in realizing the promise of fair trade initiatives togenerate greater social equity and justice is their inclusiveness If accessto fair trade markets is constrained by entry barriers such as qualitystandards or competition between producer groups for limited marketdemand the movementrsquos transformative potential will be limitedGoodman and Goodman (2001115) frame clearly the challenge posedby the quality issue

while fair trade organic has opened up lsquolsquospaces of inclusionrsquorsquofor small-scale producers the dictates of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquo act as anexclusionary force at odds with the relational ethic of themovement Many producers typically the poorest in bothresources and natural endowments even if they can meet thecosts of organic certication may be excluded from thenetwork because of the strict quality standards imposed byimporters and suppliers

In addition producing for high-value global niche markets bringsboth opportunities and a new set of demands and complexities for ruralproducers (Ericson 1999) These markets with their concomitantdemands for product consistency quantity quality and timely deliveryand pressures to adapt to ckle consumer tastes and styles can posethreats to community well-being and cohesion particularly in highlytraditional and indigenous communities

The potential for exclusion assert Goodman and Goodman (2001115) extends to the sites of consumption as well as production

the premium attached to fair trade organic [products]makes them high-priced luxury items out of reach of theeveryday purchases of lower-income consumers Nor is theremuch consumption of these products in either the local orregional Southern contexts of their production [ ] new

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 183

institutional mechanisms will be needed to promote moresocially inclusive patterns of sustainable consumption

However there are emerging fair trade initiatives located within theglobal South that provide provocative responses to these very problemsand pose a challenge both to the conceptualization of socially consciousconsumerism and to the balance of power within the fair trademovement Some of the most promising of these initiatives are takingplace in Mexico and we turn now to examining two of them

Comercio Justo Mexico

Mexico was the birthplace of the international fair trade movement in itscurrent form The original fair trade sealmdashMax Havelaarmdashwas created inresponse to the request of organized Mexican coffee producers foraccess on equitable terms and in signi cant quantities to Europeanmarkets For the rst time lsquolsquofairly-producedrsquorsquo commodities were tradedwith suf cient volume to generate real social bene ts for small farmersUnder these fair trade arrangements some coffee and honey producerassociations have realized improvements in social and economicconditions for their families and communities (Pruyn 2001)

However it has become clear that international fair trade sales are notand will not become a panacea even for coffee growers Despite Mexicorsquosstatus as the worldrsquos largest exporter of fair trade coffee (Raynolds 2000)international consumer demand remains far below supply and not allcommunities can afford organic certication or are appropriatelylocated to produce quality high-grown arabica coffeemdashboth virtuallyrequirements to enter the Northern fair trade market Other productssuch as bananas cacao and orange juice are in the very early stages of fairtrade market development The vast majority of peasant farmersmoreover are not even geographically situated to grow these potentiallyhigh-value crops

Mexican civil society groups and organized producer groups came torealize that even with enormous growth fair trade exports could neverconstitute a major development solution in and of themselves Forall but a few of the best organized coffee cooperatives for exampleNorthern fair trade markets represent only a small fraction of theirsales and at best a modest additional increment to producersrsquo incomes

In response these organizations formed Comercio Justo Mexico (FairTrade Mexico) in 1999 with a vision of building a domestic fair trademarket The organization has developed a Mexican fair trade label whichmade its debut in 2001 and is the rst such seal in a Southern nation

[T]hese Mexican small producers do not only sell their goodson the international fair trade market A signi cant part of

184 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

their production continues to be sold in the domestic marketwhich is equally plagued by destructive intermediarism Thesmall producers need our nationrsquos internal market to generatemore just trading relations and they need consumers torecognize their products The lsquolsquoFair Trade Seal of Mexicorsquorsquomakes it possible for these small producers to distinguish theirproducts and allows the consumer to have trust thatmdashwiththeir purchasemdashthey are helping the Mexican farmers most inneed (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001a)

This comprehensive initiative is composed of three separate entitiesComercio Justo Mexico AC (Fair Trade Mexico) is a promotional andeducational group that combines several civil society development NGOsand peasant producer organizations Agromercados SA (Agromarkets)is a marketing body for fair trade products owned by the small producermember organizations (of each speci c product) themselves AndCertimex an independent Mexican organic certier is responsible formonitoring adherence to fair trade criteria Agromercados is establish-ing a chain of coffee shops in numerous cities to promote the sale oforganic and fair trade coffee and has created a single domestic fair tradecoffee brand label (Cafe Fertil) for all its small coffee producer members

With direct participation from grassroots producer groups and civilsociety organizations Comercio Justo has developed a set of general fairtrade criteria based on international standards as well as speci c qualityand certication standards for coffee and is doing the same for fourother products cacao honey handicrafts and basic grains (principallycorn) Comercio Justo stresses that its system is designed for organizedpeasant producers andmdashunlike international fair trade certiersmdashitdoes not intend to develop a separate lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo for plantationagriculture or wage labor

If building demand for fair trade products in the rich North isa formidable task creating a domestic fair trade market in the ThirdWorld would seem a challenge of Herculean proportions HoweverComercio Justo believes that socially conscious consumerism is not re-stricted to those with discretionary incomeThe group insists that by elim-inating intermediaries fairly traded products can be sold at a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo priceto the producer will be competitive with comparable conventionallyproduced goods and can even help address long-standing complaintsabout the quality of domestic products

The low prices paid to small producers on the national marketmean that the best Mexican products are exported Fair Trademakes it possible for small producers to also receive digniedprices in the national market and to not depend exclusively onexport (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001b)

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 185

The group is already selling fair trade labeled Cafe Fertil in mainstreamsupermarkets and restaurants through contracts with large retailersaccompanied by major promotion and consumer education campaignsa strategy that has been key to the success of fair trade coffee bananasand chocolate in Europe

The development of a Southern national fair trade seal also raisesinteresting issues of power and control within the fair trade movementAt stake here is the very potent question of who is empowered to certifywhom in the international fair trade movement Despite the fact thatSouthern producers do participate as members in some internationalfair trade organizations the agenda priorities and criteria for fairtrade have to date been set in the North (Renard 2003 Raynolds 2000)Other authors also note the lsquolsquoasymmetries of power at work in decidingwhat is fairrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001114) The Mexican fairtrade seal says Comercio Justo constitutes a lsquolsquosocial certicationrsquorsquo withone part of civil society certifyingmdashand regulatingmdashanother part of thesociety As such it enrolls both Southern producers and Southernconsumers in the process of (re)constructing what Renard (1999484)calls fair tradersquos lsquolsquosymbolic social meaningrsquorsquo

Fair Trade Tortillerias

One of the partners in the Comercio Justo Mexico network is ANECthe National Association of Peasant Marketing Enterprises ANECwhich represents small- to medium-sized producers of basic grains in 20of Mexicorsquos 31 states is engaged in a separate but related initiative thatspeaks to a key Mexican grievance over lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquomdashthe majorongoing rural crisis precipitated by the opening of the Mexican marketunder NAFTA Low quality imported corn mainly from the US hasundercut even the most ef cient Mexican producers and contributedto the rural exodus to large cities and to the US The quality of tortillashas declined in tandem (with an increasing proportion of dry cornmeal as opposed to whole-ground corn present in even lsquolsquofreshrsquorsquotortillas) and prices have soared as the last federal subsidies and pricecontrols are eliminated (Suarez 2002)

ANECrsquos vision is ambitious a national chain of tortillerias sellingfresh-ground tortillas made with GMO-free Mexican corn grown by theorganizationrsquos members and certied with the Comercio Justo Mexicoseal As of this writing ANEC has opened three tortillerias and hopes toexpand to 20 states by 2005 and nationwide (via franchises) by 2007Victor Suarez ANECrsquos Executive Director asserts that the seal holdsrelevance for domestic consumers

The fair trade seal plays the role of assuring the buyer that thetortilla has a guarantee in all phases of the process [that it

186 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

ships between producers and consumers that are entirely endogenousto countries of the South These too exhibit a close kinship to what isconventionally understood as fair trade In this article we suggest thata more expansive application of the term fair trade to encompass agro-food initiatives within both North and South as well as between North andSouth has considerable analytic and practical utility Fair trade weargue is not necessarily far trade

The recent burgeoning of studies on alternative agro-food networksin Europe and North America has taken the lsquolsquoturn to qualityrsquorsquo as itsleitmotif (see especially the collection of essays published in Journal ofRural Studies 19 2003) David Goodman (20032) notes that thisliterature has utilized three principal analytic categoriesmdashqualityembeddedness and the localmdashin its explorations of alternatives topricemarket hegemony in food systems With few exceptions howeverissues associated with equity have not been systematically engaged Wesuggest that the Northern and Southern fair trade initiatives pro ledhere all of which attempt to mobilize some version of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo asa means of connecting producers to consumers offer the new categoryof lsquolsquoequityrsquorsquo to those interested in understanding and assessing the lsquolsquoturnto qualityrsquorsquo in markets for food products

We share Raynoldsrsquo belief that fair trade wherever one nds it mayindeed mount a fundamental challenge to the domination of the agro-food system by powerful corporations and the straitened ethics of theneo-liberal market Not everyone is so sanguine however Forms oflsquolsquogreen consumerismrsquorsquo have been faulted for eschewing social mobiliza-tion and direct political action in favor of the contradictory promotion ofsocial change through consumption (Allen and Kovach 2000 Klein1999 Winter 2003) Critics of fair trade though not unappreciative of itsprogressive potential have pointed out a variety of questions that mustbe addressed if fair trade is to realize its transformative promise Theseconcerns include the privileged position of farmers as opposed to wagedlabor the accessibility of fairly traded products to low income consumersthe robustness and character of the ethical linkages established acrosssocial and physical space and the extent to which such linkages actuallybecome the foundations for broader social or political challenges to theconventional global agro-food system and the overarching set ofcorporatist and capitalist relationships in which that system is embeddedGoodman and Goodman (2001114) posit the challenge succinctly

the alternative trade movement must nd ways of in-corporating low-income consumers into its networks whilemaintaining its commitment to price premiums and long-termcontracts for producers Moreover fair trade organic must

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 171

extend its reach beyond the nutritionally rather insigni cantcommodities of coffee and chocolate and enroll large-scaleretailers and socially excluded consumers into a more broadlybased coalition which prioritises its political commitments

Just as these concerns apply to fair trade between North and Souththey are also applicable to our exploration of the manifestations of fairtrade within Northern and Southern spheres We suggest that theseprojects and undertakings are uncovering possible routes around andthrough such contradictions Notably the explicitly social content of fairtradersquos lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo is a critical element that may allow fair trademdashbetween and within North and Southmdashto assume an important role inthe struggle to achieve a food system the sustainability of which ispredicated on both social justice and ecological integrity Assessingthe manner in which concerns for equity engage participants in alter-native agro-food networks can illuminate the extent to which such net-works might ful ll their promise as transformative vehicles rather thanfall prey to tendencies toward lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo (Hinrichs 2003Winter 2003)

Whatrsquos Fair is Far Tapping Into the Moral Charge inInternational Trade

The unfairness of international terms of trade between Northern centersand Southern peripheriesmdashlsquolsquounequal exchangersquorsquomdashwas long the focus ofdependency theory and its many variations (Amin 1976 Roxborough1979) and today remains a key element of the contemporary debate overglobalization (Greider 1997 McMichael 1996) An enduring feature ofNorth-South trade relations has been the displacement of small andindependent producers by export crops and the subversion of theireconomic position by cheap agricultural imports

From at least the days of the British abolitionists who rejected slave-produced sugar there have been people of good will unwilling toaccept this state of affairs The 1960s 1970s and 1980s saw the birthof a wide range of lsquolsquoalternative trade organizationsrsquorsquo (ATOs) smallbusinesses or civil society organizations primarily in Europe thatestablished a network of shops to sell products from small or poorproducers in the Third World who had no markets (handicrafts) weretrapped in inequitably structured markets (eg coffee) or whosemarkets had been closed by political at (eg Nicaragua) The volumeof fair trade and the number of participants engaged in that activitybecame large enough to take on lsquolsquomovementrsquorsquo status in popular andacademic accounts The cry of this nascent movement which emerged

172 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

from progressive development NGOs was lsquolsquotrade not aidrsquorsquo (Renard200389)

A watershed event for the fair trade movement was the creation ofthe Max Havelaar label in the Netherlands in 1988 The Dutchdevelopment organization Solidaridad was approached by Mexicancoffee farmers from the UCIRI cooperative in Oaxaca state who wereseeking to expand markets for their product beyond token salesthrough European lsquolsquoworld shopsrsquorsquo Solidaridad created a fair trade labelwhich could be placed on coffee sold under any brand in mainstreamretail venues (Renard 2000) Max Havelaar licenses the use of the labelto coffee roasters and retailers who agree to be certied for theircompliance with its criteria of fairness in trade The label somewhatlike its eco-label counterparts on organic foods is intended to conductto the prospective purchaser the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo the coffee can beunderstood to carry as a result of the conditions of its production Therapid growth of fair trade organizations in Europe during the 1980s andthe US during the 1990s and the creation of an internationalcerti cation body in 1997 re ect the degree to which this form ofalternative trade is being institutionalized

The core principle of fair trade initiatives is obtaining a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquofor Southern producersrsquo goods by making commodity chains bothshorter and fairer Through alternative trade networks that bypasstraditional intermediaries small farmers and producer organizationsare able in some cases to reap as much as 40 percent of the nalpurchase price But fair trade organizations make it clear that theconnectivity they hope to foster between Southern producers andNorthern consumers goes far beyond the narrow objective of priceAccording to certier TransFair USA

Fair trade bene ts many From farmers in producer countriesto students in a US school studying the environment theconcept and practice of fair trade connects producers andconsumers in new and powerful ways It is the nexus formeeting both environmental and economic considerations ofindigenous peoples re-balancing the trading relationshipbetween North and South building a link between US policyand publics to a larger world community that is knocking at thedoor (20021)

Raynoldsrsquo assertion that fair trade lsquolsquosuggests provocative possibilitiesfor socially re-linking production trade and consumption andchallenging the domination of the agro-food system by oligopolistictransnational corporationsrsquorsquo (20011) may appear hyperbolic but this isprecisely what fair trade organizations intend

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 173

In order to receive fair trade certication these production ar-rangements must meet speci ed criteria While various fair trade or-ganizations phrase the standards somewhat differently Table 1 lists themost commonly used criteria drawn from a variety of fair tradeschemata Producers typically must receive a guaranteed minimum orlsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price to cover production costs and protect against market uctuations as well as a lsquolsquosocial premiumrsquorsquo directed to social de-velopment Other criteria include providing credit or partial pay-ment in advance of harvest long-term trading contracts nancialtransparency environmentally-sound practices and increased controlby producers over marketing and production (Fair Trade Federation2000) Fair trade certiers have also developed a second lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo tocertify fairness in crops such as bananas and tea which are producedlargely on plantations by waged workers These standards includepayment of a lsquolsquoliving wagersquorsquo decent working conditions and respect forthe right to join unions (Pruyn 2001) Coffee was the rst fairly tradedfood commodity and remains the most signi cant with 240 producerorganizations now on the international fair trade coffee registerrepresenting 490000 grower families Certication has now expandedto other products including bananas tea sugar cocoa honeypineapples mangoes and orange juice (Theunissen 2002 Rice2001) Worldwide sales of certied fair trade products grew 22 percentin 2001 to reach $235 million bene ting 800000 families Fair tradebananas coffee and chocolate have captured an important share of themarket in several western European nations (FLO 2002a)

However it is not yet clear whether fair trade as currently constitutedcan become more than a marginal alternative and assume a role as a realforce for the reform and even transformation of conventional unequalexchange relationships It is this issue that most concerns DavidGoodman and Michael Goodman in their review of the lsquolsquosocialimaginariesrsquorsquo of organic agriculture eco-labeling and fair trade

Table 1 Most Common Fair Trade Criteria

n Fair prices to producers fair wages to laborers ( oor or minimum priceswages socialdevelopment premium)

n Advance credit or payment to producersn Democratically run producer cooperatives or workplacesn Long-term contracts and trading relationshipsn Environmentally sustainable production practicesn Public accountability and nancial transparencyn Financial and technical assistance to producersn Safe non-exploitative working conditions

(Sources Global Exchange 2002 Equal Exchange 2002 FLO 2002b TransFair USA2002 Fair Trade Federation 2002)

174 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Progressive change requires a lsquolsquosymmetrical socio-ecologicalrsquorsquo concep-tualization of sustainability that facilitates political engagement(Goodman and Goodman 2001115) Yet the current technocentricstandards-based construction of lsquolsquoorganicrsquorsquo and of most eco-labelsignores the social conditions of production and these manifestationsof lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo are coming to approximate conventional agro-foodsystems in their patterns of farm structure labor organization andmarketing (Guthman 2000) In contrast Goodman and Goodman(2001111) nd fair trade labels to be uniquely potent since theyencompass lsquolsquoboth organic production processes and the bundle ofethical labour and commercial practices which encode alternative eco-social production relations into the constitution of these productsrsquorsquoThe fair trade networkrsquos eco-social imaginaries they assert offera deeper richer and more radical promise of transformation

We argue that the bundle of core elements that constitute fair trade arenot found only in the international arrangements to which the term isconventionally applied but can also be applied to the activities of somealternative agro-food networks within the North and within the South Iffair trade can indeed facilitate action at such a distance that it createsa moral and a material connectivity across continents should it not alsofunction similarly across shorter distances If fair trade is so compellingand engaging a discursive construct for socially embedding Dutchconsumer behavior in regard to Mexican coffee might it not functionsimilarly in shaping the choices a Wisconsin consumer makes in buyingcheese or the way a resident of Mexico City decides to purchase tortillas

These questions so far have not been engaged by the literatures oncontemporary agro-food transformations Fair trade has been treated asa special and somewhat idiosyncratic case within the larger set ofalternativesustainable food problematics This is somewhat curioussince the features of fair trade initiatives intersect with the key analyticsof placelocality social embeddedness and quality But studies of theconstruction of short food supply chains in Europe (eg Marsden et al1999 Miele 1999) do not reference the parallel efforts of Third Worldfair trade producers to circumvent intermediaries and jump-start ruraldevelopment Analyses of the social embeddedness associated withalternative and direct marketing of foods have not foregroundedconsiderations of equity even as fair trade coffee is sold at farmersmarkets alongside local produce The intense examination of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquonow under way does not substantively encompass lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo as a meansof framing preferences (Goodman 2003 Winter 2003)

As Whatmore and Thorne note lsquolsquoperformance of lsquofairnessrsquo ratherthan charityrsquorsquo is a powerful means of establishing lsquolsquoconnectivityrsquorsquobetween peasant and indigenous coffee producers in the South and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 175

consumers in the North (1997299) This performance is also at work ina number of initiatives both within the North and within the SouthExploring the construction and deployment of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo on thesemore limited terrains is both theoretically and practically useful and wenow turn our attention in this direction

North-North Initiatives Convergence

One of the de ning features of economic globalization is that it tiestogether the fates of people at opposite corners of the earth in new andcomplex ways In the second of the two quotes that open this article RinkDickinson co-director of Equal Exchange Coffee highlights the simi-larity in the structural position of many farmers in both the North andSouth His comment describes a project called Red Tomato which bringsthe produce of southern small farmers to New England grocery stores

The Equal Exchange warehouse houses organic coffee frompeasant farmers in Oaxaca Mexico It houses watermelonsfrom disadvantaged black farmers from Georgia SouthCarolina and other parts of the south Both the watermelonand the coffee farmers have created co-ops to arrangemarketing and give them a chance against larger growers andprocessors The implications of this convergence between thework of the watermelon farmers peach farmers tea growersand coffee farmers is immense (20002)

In this structural and institutional lsquolsquoconvergencersquorsquo Dickinson explicitlysees an opportunity for lsquolsquobringing fair trade ideals to US farmersrsquorsquo andfor developing fair trade marketing in local regional and nationalcontexts as well as in the international frame

How might we assess Dickinsonrsquos ambition Are there indeed extantor emerging initiatives focused on marketing within in the UnitedStates that might plausibly fall under the rubric of lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo In factthere is a variety of such undertakings in all regions of the country Inorder to provide an empirical platform for further discussion we nowpro le ve of these initiatives with particular attention to the extent towhich these endogenous projects share characteristics commonlyassociated with North-South fair trade (see Table 1)

Red Tomato

Red Tomato is a marketing organization based in Canton Massachusettsthat distributes fresh fruits and vegetables from family farmers to retailsupermarkets food cooperatives and institutions in the Boston areaIf there is one initiative that might be expected to approximate theSouthNorth fair trade model most closely it is Red Tomato The

176 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

project was started in 1997 by Michael Rozyne who had earlier beena founder of Equal Exchange From direct conversations with staff itwas apparent to us that fair trade principles undergird Red Tomatorsquosapproach to facilitating market access for small sustainable farmersBut apart from a commitment to assuring a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo and to theestablishment of lsquolsquolong-term pricing agreementsrsquorsquo these principlesremain largely implicit in the organizationrsquos public face Indeed thewords lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo are almost completely absent from Red Tomatorsquospublic materials and point of sale advertising The only use of the termin its principal brochure comes in a description of its sibling EqualExchange

Dickinson (20002) explicitly outlines the similarities in the roles ofRed Tomato and Equal Exchange

Both groups are committed to connecting consumers tofarmers Both are actively engaged in the marketplace but arenot for pro t maximizing Both Equal Exchange and RedTomato are working with disadvantaged producers and bothare driven by cultures of worker innovation and control

Nevertheless Red Tomato has quite deliberately chosen to frame itspublic message in terms more familiar to North American consumersAccording to its brochure

Red Tomato is a nonpro t marketing organization that helpsfamily farmers survive and helps make sure that local people can nd high-quality affordable local produce (Red Tomato nd)

Rather than the formal certication and labeling characteristic ofSouth-North approaches to fair trade Red Tomato has chosen todevelop a lsquolsquobrandrsquorsquo of its own and that brand image does not include anexplicit fair trade element By way of explanation a Red Tomato staffmember distinguishes between lsquolsquofollowing fair trade principles versuscertifying or using fair trade principles to certifyrsquorsquo She is lsquolsquoverycomfortable saying Red Tomato follows fair trade principlesrsquorsquo but feelsthat many consumers in the United States are not now suf cientlyinformed or well enough developed politically to respond to a formalfair trade campaign focused on domestic produce and Americanfarmers (Red Tomato 2002)

Federation of Southern Cooperatives

Ironically fair trade is foregrounded by the Federation of SouthernCooperatives That organization is partnering with Red Tomato to bringto the New England market the watermelons and other produce grownby African-American family farmers in seven Southeastern states This

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 177

marketing relationship with a democratically run cooperative repre-sents another of the ways in which Red Tomatorsquos practices correspondto those found in South-North fair trading arrangements But whereRed Tomato prefers to accent the family farmlocalistenvironmentaldimensions of its product line the Federation of Southern Coopera-tives makes an unambiguous effort to deploy the moral charge of fairtrade in its outreach A Federation press release (20001) describing therelationship with Red Tomato is headlined lsquolsquoFederationLAF Engagedin lsquoFair Tradersquo Practices to Serve Family Farmers and Customersrsquorsquo andstates

Our goal at the FederationLAF is to make sure farmers aretreated fairly in the marketplace We want lsquofair tradersquo forfarmersmdashone that rst considers the farmerrsquos costs and pro t[ ] we hope it will serve as a model for family farmers acrossthe country

The FederationRed Tomato project directly addresses concernsfamiliar to the Latin American and African coffee farmers with whomEqual Exchange is accustomed to dealing the power of distributors andretailers the desire for collective action by producers and for closerlinkages with consumers the need for long-term contracts and ofcourse for a fair price

The FederationLAF rst asked the farmers what they consid-ered to be a fair price for their watermelon Once that wasdetermined all their costs were factored in above the farmerrsquosprice such as transportation and other overhead costs The FairTrade model considers the farmer rst and foremost and byeliminating the lsquolsquomiddlemanrsquorsquo the consumers also have a moredirect relationship with farmers which is a win-win situation forall concerned (Federation of Southern Cooperatives 20001)

The Federation then clearly sees the lsquolsquoconvergencersquorsquo referred to byDickinson and appreciates the potential of domestic fair trade directlymobilizing the language of fair trade to illustrate both the disadvan-tages its members face and the route to improving their situation

Family Farmer Cheese

Family Farmer Cheese is a joint project of the Wisconsin-based dairyfarm advocacy group Family Farm Defenders (FFD) and a cheesemanufacturer Cedar Grove Cheese Founded in the 1970s FFD haslong been actively involved in struggles to reform federal milkmarketing regulations and pricing policies oppose the new biotech-nologies and counter agribusiness consolidation Recognizing that

178 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

efforts to in uence federal legislation were important but slow theorganization sought ways to keep small dairy farmers in business in theshort run Family Farm Defendersrsquo leadership met with a localcheesemaker whose small family-owned factory was one of the fewsurviving facilities in what had once been a thriving regional industryAccording to FFD founder Francis Goodman lsquolsquoWe decided to marketa cheese brand based on a fair relationship between trading partnersproviding consumers an opportunity to vote for family dairy farms withtheir food dollars and providing family dairy farmers nancial securityrsquorsquo(Leinberger 19991)

The critical foundations of the Family Farmer Cheese initiative area guaranteed price for milk and a label All cheese sold under theFamily Farmer Cheese label is purchased from farmers at $16 perhundredweight (the market price at the time of writing is around the $9level) Milk is purchased from individual farmers and from the ScenicCentral Milk Producers Co-op another project of FFD Farmers sellingto the project must agree not to use recombinant bovine growthhormone to use sustainable methods of farming and to care foranimals in a humane way Family Farm Defenders and Cedar Grovecheese share marketing and distribution responsibilities and thecheese can be purchased by mail and through retail food cooperativesand natural foods stores throughout southern Wisconsin

The capacity to pay a fair price to farmers ultimately depends on thewillingness of consumers to pay a premium price for the cheese at retailoutlets This willingness is engendered by the cheesersquos distinctive labeland by other educational and outreach materials The FamilyFarmer Cheese label does not refer to fair trade or even fairness Itis distinctive however in its linking of farmers consumers and processor

Family Farm Defenders is a non-pro t organization composedof small family farmers and concerned consumers By choosingFamily Farmer brand you become part of an alliance workingtoward a safe sustainable food production system Our milkcomes from small dairy farmers who use no arti cial growthhormones (Family Farmer Cheese 2000)

Family Farm Defenders is comprised of non-farm citizens as well asfarmers and the organization takes a more systemic perspective than iscommonly encountered in alternative food initiatives Family FarmDefendersrsquo mission statement emphasizes not the virtues of localconsumption but the possibilities inherent in mobilization fordemocratic practice

We adhere to the principle of democracy by empoweringfarmers to speak for and represent themselves in the quest for

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 179

economic justice and responsible sustainable agriculturalpolicies the Family Farm Defenders is dedicated to speakingout against all the forces threatening the long-term survival ofrural America and to preserving a diverse safe and wholesomefood supply at an affordable price for consumers (Family FarmDefenders nd)

Midwest Food Alliance

The initiative that most closely resembles the characteristic criteria-certication-labeling arrangement of international (South-North) fairtrade may be that of the Midwest Food Alliance The Alliance hasestablished a set of lsquolsquoGuiding Principlesrsquorsquo which it uses as a frameworkfor formal third party certication of producers of meat freshvegetables and fruits Farm operations that conform to the guidingprinciples may use the lsquolsquoMidwest Food Alliance Approvedrsquorsquo seal tomarket their products The Alliance is engaged in an extensive programof consumer outreach and education as it attempts to make a placefor Alliance-labeled products in supermarkets in the Minneapolis-St Paul area

Though the superstructure of the Alliance program is similar to thelsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo fair trade model certain core elements of that paradigmare missing That the organizationrsquos literature and web site make noreference at all to lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is not necessarily surprising given thelack of engagement of all the US projects with that particularterminology But the Midwest Food Alliance also avoids an appeal to theneed for a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo or to the survival of small farmers Indeed inAlliance materials it is even dif cult to nd use of the term lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo so liberally deployed by the other initiatives we have reviewedNot only does the Midwest Food Alliance use the unquali ed termlsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo it also focuses more attention on the sustainability ofparticular production practices than on the survivability of particularkinds of farmers Farms should be lsquolsquopro tablersquorsquo but that pro tability isunderstood and presented by the Alliance as a function of effectivepresence in the marketplace and in the demands of consumers and notas an ethical or rights-based claim to a particular price While theproject works hard to create market access for the farmers they certifythe Alliance provides no oor price long-term contracts advancepayment or credit

The Midwest Food alliance is considerably less lsquolsquofarm-centricrsquorsquo thanthe other initiatives pro led here And paradoxically perhaps becauseof that orientation the project nds it appropriate to include theinterests of labor and the wider community in the guiding principles

180 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

which shape its certication process In addition to eight principlesrelating to agronomic and conservation practices farmers certi ed bythe Alliance must adhere to the following social axiom

Providing safe and fair working conditions for our employeesand our families For example we develop farm policies inorder to establish open channels for communicating workplacesafety and satisfaction We incorporate quality of life issuesinto our daily decision making process for ourselves ourfamilies our employees and our broader communities (Mid-west Food Alliance nd)

Without seeing the individual farm plans that must be drawn up forcerti ers it is dif cult to know how such generalities translate intoconcrete actions Still inclusion of what the Alliance calls lsquolsquohumanresource developmentrsquorsquo in its criteria is an important step towarda version of North-North fair trade that envisions justice for socialsectors beyond the lsquolsquofamily farmrsquorsquo

UFW Fair Trade Apple Campaign

If the Midwest Food Alliance has begun to address the interests andconcerns of agricultural workers the Fair Trade Apple Campaign of theUnited Farm Workers (UFW) union actually privileges labor as theprojectrsquos point of departure The UFW is well known for its efforts onbehalf of farm workersmdashparticularly the California grape boycottsmdashand has long sought to connect consumers to workersrsquo struggle for justtreatment in the nationrsquos fruit and vegetable elds The UFWrsquos base inLatino farmworker communities and its involvement in cross-borderlabor solidarity give the term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo an appealing resonance forthe UFW and the organization is explicit in terming its nascentinitiative the lsquolsquoWashington Fair Trade Apple Campaign (WAFTA)rsquorsquo

The apple industry is a highly globalized market Imported applesfrom Chile New Zealand and South Africa now compete intensely withthose grown in Washington and other states Washingtonrsquos familygrowers still the large majority of apple farmers are besieged bya combination of forces Consolidation in packing and distributionretail sourcing practices favoring the largest growers and delays of 12 to18 months in payment for their fruit have eroded growersrsquo market powerand pushed them into debilitating debt cycles (Jarosz and Qazi 20005ndash6Gamboa 2002) Growers receive only 11 percent of what consumers payat retail even though the retail pro t margin on apples is 32 percenthigher than for virtually any other grocery item (UFW 2001)

Squeezed from above small family apple growers often pass the painon to their workforce The statersquos apple workersmdashover 80 percent of

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 181

Mexican origin and often undocumentedmdashtake home an averageyearly salary of $7654 far below the poverty line (Jarosz and Qazi 2000BCGEU 2001) In both orchards and packing houses unions say thatworkers face discrimination are denied the right to organize andbargain collectively and do not enjoy health and safety protectionsguaranteed by state law (UFW 2001) Indeed the Washington appleindustry today remains 100 percent non-union (Gamboa 2002) Ratherthan focus their attention solely on laborrsquos immediate employersunions hoping to organize apple workers identify the structuraldynamics hurting both growers and workers

The US agricultural community grew and prospered on thevalues of a lsquolsquofair returnrsquorsquo for those who risk the most and a lsquolsquodecentwagersquorsquo for a hard dayrsquos work Todayrsquos new global economythreatens to erode these values even further The apple industryis unfair Smaller family-owned farms are going bankruptbecause corporations pay less per box than it costs growers tocultivate and harvest their crops (BCGEU 2001)

Accordingly the UFW is launching its Washington Fair Trade AppleCampaign as an lsquolsquoeconomic collaborationrsquorsquo with family growers andgrower collectives that lsquolsquouses consumer pressure on retailers to paygrowers more for their fruitrsquorsquo (BCGEU 2001) Having identied thegrowersrsquo entrapment in a cost-price squeeze as the root cause ofworkersrsquo problems the union hopes that rather than pitting growersagainst labor both will gain if family apple farmers were to receive a fairprice Guadalupe Gamboa the UFWrsquos National Vice President anddirector of the apple campaign insists that workersrsquo resentment fortheir poor conditions is not directed principally at family growers

[It] is mainly against the packers the companies who are theworst abusers of workers The problem in the past is that familygrowers have identied with the big companies Wersquore trying tobreak that by showing them that theyrsquore more like the workersbecause they donrsquot have any say in the price they get (2002)

The fair trade apple campaign will label apples produced under thisgrower-worker collaboration with the UFWrsquos black eagle symbol(Paynter 2001) The seal will be conditioned upon growersrsquo enteringinto collective bargaining agreements with the UFW guaranteeingbetter wages health and safety guarantees and respect for basic laborlaws (eg workers compensation) In return the union hopes to offersmall growers volume buying long-term contracts and better and moreconsistent prices by bypassing distributors and negotiating directly withmajor grocery chains interested in the seal The fruit will initially besold in the largest west coast citiesmdashincluding Seattle Sacramento

182 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

San Francisco and Los Angelesmdashviewed by the union as lsquolsquosolidaritymarketsrsquorsquo (Gamboa 2002) where recognition of the UFW and sympathyfor farmworker issues run high

Rather than setting a minimum lsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price as in fair trade coffeethe fair trade apple initiative centers upon a living wage and respect forlabor rights much like the lsquolsquoplantation modalityrsquorsquo of the internationalfair trade movement The UFW is asserting that such rights are centralto the trading equation The union draws parallels between fair tradeapples fairly traded coffee and international anti-sweatshop campaignsall of which seek to reform lsquolsquounjustrsquorsquo practices in their respective in-dustries through consumer education and pressure

South-South Initiatives Inclusion

A key question in realizing the promise of fair trade initiatives togenerate greater social equity and justice is their inclusiveness If accessto fair trade markets is constrained by entry barriers such as qualitystandards or competition between producer groups for limited marketdemand the movementrsquos transformative potential will be limitedGoodman and Goodman (2001115) frame clearly the challenge posedby the quality issue

while fair trade organic has opened up lsquolsquospaces of inclusionrsquorsquofor small-scale producers the dictates of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquo act as anexclusionary force at odds with the relational ethic of themovement Many producers typically the poorest in bothresources and natural endowments even if they can meet thecosts of organic certication may be excluded from thenetwork because of the strict quality standards imposed byimporters and suppliers

In addition producing for high-value global niche markets bringsboth opportunities and a new set of demands and complexities for ruralproducers (Ericson 1999) These markets with their concomitantdemands for product consistency quantity quality and timely deliveryand pressures to adapt to ckle consumer tastes and styles can posethreats to community well-being and cohesion particularly in highlytraditional and indigenous communities

The potential for exclusion assert Goodman and Goodman (2001115) extends to the sites of consumption as well as production

the premium attached to fair trade organic [products]makes them high-priced luxury items out of reach of theeveryday purchases of lower-income consumers Nor is theremuch consumption of these products in either the local orregional Southern contexts of their production [ ] new

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 183

institutional mechanisms will be needed to promote moresocially inclusive patterns of sustainable consumption

However there are emerging fair trade initiatives located within theglobal South that provide provocative responses to these very problemsand pose a challenge both to the conceptualization of socially consciousconsumerism and to the balance of power within the fair trademovement Some of the most promising of these initiatives are takingplace in Mexico and we turn now to examining two of them

Comercio Justo Mexico

Mexico was the birthplace of the international fair trade movement in itscurrent form The original fair trade sealmdashMax Havelaarmdashwas created inresponse to the request of organized Mexican coffee producers foraccess on equitable terms and in signi cant quantities to Europeanmarkets For the rst time lsquolsquofairly-producedrsquorsquo commodities were tradedwith suf cient volume to generate real social bene ts for small farmersUnder these fair trade arrangements some coffee and honey producerassociations have realized improvements in social and economicconditions for their families and communities (Pruyn 2001)

However it has become clear that international fair trade sales are notand will not become a panacea even for coffee growers Despite Mexicorsquosstatus as the worldrsquos largest exporter of fair trade coffee (Raynolds 2000)international consumer demand remains far below supply and not allcommunities can afford organic certication or are appropriatelylocated to produce quality high-grown arabica coffeemdashboth virtuallyrequirements to enter the Northern fair trade market Other productssuch as bananas cacao and orange juice are in the very early stages of fairtrade market development The vast majority of peasant farmersmoreover are not even geographically situated to grow these potentiallyhigh-value crops

Mexican civil society groups and organized producer groups came torealize that even with enormous growth fair trade exports could neverconstitute a major development solution in and of themselves Forall but a few of the best organized coffee cooperatives for exampleNorthern fair trade markets represent only a small fraction of theirsales and at best a modest additional increment to producersrsquo incomes

In response these organizations formed Comercio Justo Mexico (FairTrade Mexico) in 1999 with a vision of building a domestic fair trademarket The organization has developed a Mexican fair trade label whichmade its debut in 2001 and is the rst such seal in a Southern nation

[T]hese Mexican small producers do not only sell their goodson the international fair trade market A signi cant part of

184 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

their production continues to be sold in the domestic marketwhich is equally plagued by destructive intermediarism Thesmall producers need our nationrsquos internal market to generatemore just trading relations and they need consumers torecognize their products The lsquolsquoFair Trade Seal of Mexicorsquorsquomakes it possible for these small producers to distinguish theirproducts and allows the consumer to have trust thatmdashwiththeir purchasemdashthey are helping the Mexican farmers most inneed (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001a)

This comprehensive initiative is composed of three separate entitiesComercio Justo Mexico AC (Fair Trade Mexico) is a promotional andeducational group that combines several civil society development NGOsand peasant producer organizations Agromercados SA (Agromarkets)is a marketing body for fair trade products owned by the small producermember organizations (of each speci c product) themselves AndCertimex an independent Mexican organic certier is responsible formonitoring adherence to fair trade criteria Agromercados is establish-ing a chain of coffee shops in numerous cities to promote the sale oforganic and fair trade coffee and has created a single domestic fair tradecoffee brand label (Cafe Fertil) for all its small coffee producer members

With direct participation from grassroots producer groups and civilsociety organizations Comercio Justo has developed a set of general fairtrade criteria based on international standards as well as speci c qualityand certication standards for coffee and is doing the same for fourother products cacao honey handicrafts and basic grains (principallycorn) Comercio Justo stresses that its system is designed for organizedpeasant producers andmdashunlike international fair trade certiersmdashitdoes not intend to develop a separate lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo for plantationagriculture or wage labor

If building demand for fair trade products in the rich North isa formidable task creating a domestic fair trade market in the ThirdWorld would seem a challenge of Herculean proportions HoweverComercio Justo believes that socially conscious consumerism is not re-stricted to those with discretionary incomeThe group insists that by elim-inating intermediaries fairly traded products can be sold at a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo priceto the producer will be competitive with comparable conventionallyproduced goods and can even help address long-standing complaintsabout the quality of domestic products

The low prices paid to small producers on the national marketmean that the best Mexican products are exported Fair Trademakes it possible for small producers to also receive digniedprices in the national market and to not depend exclusively onexport (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001b)

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 185

The group is already selling fair trade labeled Cafe Fertil in mainstreamsupermarkets and restaurants through contracts with large retailersaccompanied by major promotion and consumer education campaignsa strategy that has been key to the success of fair trade coffee bananasand chocolate in Europe

The development of a Southern national fair trade seal also raisesinteresting issues of power and control within the fair trade movementAt stake here is the very potent question of who is empowered to certifywhom in the international fair trade movement Despite the fact thatSouthern producers do participate as members in some internationalfair trade organizations the agenda priorities and criteria for fairtrade have to date been set in the North (Renard 2003 Raynolds 2000)Other authors also note the lsquolsquoasymmetries of power at work in decidingwhat is fairrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001114) The Mexican fairtrade seal says Comercio Justo constitutes a lsquolsquosocial certicationrsquorsquo withone part of civil society certifyingmdashand regulatingmdashanother part of thesociety As such it enrolls both Southern producers and Southernconsumers in the process of (re)constructing what Renard (1999484)calls fair tradersquos lsquolsquosymbolic social meaningrsquorsquo

Fair Trade Tortillerias

One of the partners in the Comercio Justo Mexico network is ANECthe National Association of Peasant Marketing Enterprises ANECwhich represents small- to medium-sized producers of basic grains in 20of Mexicorsquos 31 states is engaged in a separate but related initiative thatspeaks to a key Mexican grievance over lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquomdashthe majorongoing rural crisis precipitated by the opening of the Mexican marketunder NAFTA Low quality imported corn mainly from the US hasundercut even the most ef cient Mexican producers and contributedto the rural exodus to large cities and to the US The quality of tortillashas declined in tandem (with an increasing proportion of dry cornmeal as opposed to whole-ground corn present in even lsquolsquofreshrsquorsquotortillas) and prices have soared as the last federal subsidies and pricecontrols are eliminated (Suarez 2002)

ANECrsquos vision is ambitious a national chain of tortillerias sellingfresh-ground tortillas made with GMO-free Mexican corn grown by theorganizationrsquos members and certied with the Comercio Justo Mexicoseal As of this writing ANEC has opened three tortillerias and hopes toexpand to 20 states by 2005 and nationwide (via franchises) by 2007Victor Suarez ANECrsquos Executive Director asserts that the seal holdsrelevance for domestic consumers

The fair trade seal plays the role of assuring the buyer that thetortilla has a guarantee in all phases of the process [that it

186 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

extend its reach beyond the nutritionally rather insigni cantcommodities of coffee and chocolate and enroll large-scaleretailers and socially excluded consumers into a more broadlybased coalition which prioritises its political commitments

Just as these concerns apply to fair trade between North and Souththey are also applicable to our exploration of the manifestations of fairtrade within Northern and Southern spheres We suggest that theseprojects and undertakings are uncovering possible routes around andthrough such contradictions Notably the explicitly social content of fairtradersquos lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo is a critical element that may allow fair trademdashbetween and within North and Southmdashto assume an important role inthe struggle to achieve a food system the sustainability of which ispredicated on both social justice and ecological integrity Assessingthe manner in which concerns for equity engage participants in alter-native agro-food networks can illuminate the extent to which such net-works might ful ll their promise as transformative vehicles rather thanfall prey to tendencies toward lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo (Hinrichs 2003Winter 2003)

Whatrsquos Fair is Far Tapping Into the Moral Charge inInternational Trade

The unfairness of international terms of trade between Northern centersand Southern peripheriesmdashlsquolsquounequal exchangersquorsquomdashwas long the focus ofdependency theory and its many variations (Amin 1976 Roxborough1979) and today remains a key element of the contemporary debate overglobalization (Greider 1997 McMichael 1996) An enduring feature ofNorth-South trade relations has been the displacement of small andindependent producers by export crops and the subversion of theireconomic position by cheap agricultural imports

From at least the days of the British abolitionists who rejected slave-produced sugar there have been people of good will unwilling toaccept this state of affairs The 1960s 1970s and 1980s saw the birthof a wide range of lsquolsquoalternative trade organizationsrsquorsquo (ATOs) smallbusinesses or civil society organizations primarily in Europe thatestablished a network of shops to sell products from small or poorproducers in the Third World who had no markets (handicrafts) weretrapped in inequitably structured markets (eg coffee) or whosemarkets had been closed by political at (eg Nicaragua) The volumeof fair trade and the number of participants engaged in that activitybecame large enough to take on lsquolsquomovementrsquorsquo status in popular andacademic accounts The cry of this nascent movement which emerged

172 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

from progressive development NGOs was lsquolsquotrade not aidrsquorsquo (Renard200389)

A watershed event for the fair trade movement was the creation ofthe Max Havelaar label in the Netherlands in 1988 The Dutchdevelopment organization Solidaridad was approached by Mexicancoffee farmers from the UCIRI cooperative in Oaxaca state who wereseeking to expand markets for their product beyond token salesthrough European lsquolsquoworld shopsrsquorsquo Solidaridad created a fair trade labelwhich could be placed on coffee sold under any brand in mainstreamretail venues (Renard 2000) Max Havelaar licenses the use of the labelto coffee roasters and retailers who agree to be certied for theircompliance with its criteria of fairness in trade The label somewhatlike its eco-label counterparts on organic foods is intended to conductto the prospective purchaser the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo the coffee can beunderstood to carry as a result of the conditions of its production Therapid growth of fair trade organizations in Europe during the 1980s andthe US during the 1990s and the creation of an internationalcerti cation body in 1997 re ect the degree to which this form ofalternative trade is being institutionalized

The core principle of fair trade initiatives is obtaining a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquofor Southern producersrsquo goods by making commodity chains bothshorter and fairer Through alternative trade networks that bypasstraditional intermediaries small farmers and producer organizationsare able in some cases to reap as much as 40 percent of the nalpurchase price But fair trade organizations make it clear that theconnectivity they hope to foster between Southern producers andNorthern consumers goes far beyond the narrow objective of priceAccording to certier TransFair USA

Fair trade bene ts many From farmers in producer countriesto students in a US school studying the environment theconcept and practice of fair trade connects producers andconsumers in new and powerful ways It is the nexus formeeting both environmental and economic considerations ofindigenous peoples re-balancing the trading relationshipbetween North and South building a link between US policyand publics to a larger world community that is knocking at thedoor (20021)

Raynoldsrsquo assertion that fair trade lsquolsquosuggests provocative possibilitiesfor socially re-linking production trade and consumption andchallenging the domination of the agro-food system by oligopolistictransnational corporationsrsquorsquo (20011) may appear hyperbolic but this isprecisely what fair trade organizations intend

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 173

In order to receive fair trade certication these production ar-rangements must meet speci ed criteria While various fair trade or-ganizations phrase the standards somewhat differently Table 1 lists themost commonly used criteria drawn from a variety of fair tradeschemata Producers typically must receive a guaranteed minimum orlsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price to cover production costs and protect against market uctuations as well as a lsquolsquosocial premiumrsquorsquo directed to social de-velopment Other criteria include providing credit or partial pay-ment in advance of harvest long-term trading contracts nancialtransparency environmentally-sound practices and increased controlby producers over marketing and production (Fair Trade Federation2000) Fair trade certiers have also developed a second lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo tocertify fairness in crops such as bananas and tea which are producedlargely on plantations by waged workers These standards includepayment of a lsquolsquoliving wagersquorsquo decent working conditions and respect forthe right to join unions (Pruyn 2001) Coffee was the rst fairly tradedfood commodity and remains the most signi cant with 240 producerorganizations now on the international fair trade coffee registerrepresenting 490000 grower families Certication has now expandedto other products including bananas tea sugar cocoa honeypineapples mangoes and orange juice (Theunissen 2002 Rice2001) Worldwide sales of certied fair trade products grew 22 percentin 2001 to reach $235 million bene ting 800000 families Fair tradebananas coffee and chocolate have captured an important share of themarket in several western European nations (FLO 2002a)

However it is not yet clear whether fair trade as currently constitutedcan become more than a marginal alternative and assume a role as a realforce for the reform and even transformation of conventional unequalexchange relationships It is this issue that most concerns DavidGoodman and Michael Goodman in their review of the lsquolsquosocialimaginariesrsquorsquo of organic agriculture eco-labeling and fair trade

Table 1 Most Common Fair Trade Criteria

n Fair prices to producers fair wages to laborers ( oor or minimum priceswages socialdevelopment premium)

n Advance credit or payment to producersn Democratically run producer cooperatives or workplacesn Long-term contracts and trading relationshipsn Environmentally sustainable production practicesn Public accountability and nancial transparencyn Financial and technical assistance to producersn Safe non-exploitative working conditions

(Sources Global Exchange 2002 Equal Exchange 2002 FLO 2002b TransFair USA2002 Fair Trade Federation 2002)

174 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Progressive change requires a lsquolsquosymmetrical socio-ecologicalrsquorsquo concep-tualization of sustainability that facilitates political engagement(Goodman and Goodman 2001115) Yet the current technocentricstandards-based construction of lsquolsquoorganicrsquorsquo and of most eco-labelsignores the social conditions of production and these manifestationsof lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo are coming to approximate conventional agro-foodsystems in their patterns of farm structure labor organization andmarketing (Guthman 2000) In contrast Goodman and Goodman(2001111) nd fair trade labels to be uniquely potent since theyencompass lsquolsquoboth organic production processes and the bundle ofethical labour and commercial practices which encode alternative eco-social production relations into the constitution of these productsrsquorsquoThe fair trade networkrsquos eco-social imaginaries they assert offera deeper richer and more radical promise of transformation

We argue that the bundle of core elements that constitute fair trade arenot found only in the international arrangements to which the term isconventionally applied but can also be applied to the activities of somealternative agro-food networks within the North and within the South Iffair trade can indeed facilitate action at such a distance that it createsa moral and a material connectivity across continents should it not alsofunction similarly across shorter distances If fair trade is so compellingand engaging a discursive construct for socially embedding Dutchconsumer behavior in regard to Mexican coffee might it not functionsimilarly in shaping the choices a Wisconsin consumer makes in buyingcheese or the way a resident of Mexico City decides to purchase tortillas

These questions so far have not been engaged by the literatures oncontemporary agro-food transformations Fair trade has been treated asa special and somewhat idiosyncratic case within the larger set ofalternativesustainable food problematics This is somewhat curioussince the features of fair trade initiatives intersect with the key analyticsof placelocality social embeddedness and quality But studies of theconstruction of short food supply chains in Europe (eg Marsden et al1999 Miele 1999) do not reference the parallel efforts of Third Worldfair trade producers to circumvent intermediaries and jump-start ruraldevelopment Analyses of the social embeddedness associated withalternative and direct marketing of foods have not foregroundedconsiderations of equity even as fair trade coffee is sold at farmersmarkets alongside local produce The intense examination of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquonow under way does not substantively encompass lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo as a meansof framing preferences (Goodman 2003 Winter 2003)

As Whatmore and Thorne note lsquolsquoperformance of lsquofairnessrsquo ratherthan charityrsquorsquo is a powerful means of establishing lsquolsquoconnectivityrsquorsquobetween peasant and indigenous coffee producers in the South and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 175

consumers in the North (1997299) This performance is also at work ina number of initiatives both within the North and within the SouthExploring the construction and deployment of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo on thesemore limited terrains is both theoretically and practically useful and wenow turn our attention in this direction

North-North Initiatives Convergence

One of the de ning features of economic globalization is that it tiestogether the fates of people at opposite corners of the earth in new andcomplex ways In the second of the two quotes that open this article RinkDickinson co-director of Equal Exchange Coffee highlights the simi-larity in the structural position of many farmers in both the North andSouth His comment describes a project called Red Tomato which bringsthe produce of southern small farmers to New England grocery stores

The Equal Exchange warehouse houses organic coffee frompeasant farmers in Oaxaca Mexico It houses watermelonsfrom disadvantaged black farmers from Georgia SouthCarolina and other parts of the south Both the watermelonand the coffee farmers have created co-ops to arrangemarketing and give them a chance against larger growers andprocessors The implications of this convergence between thework of the watermelon farmers peach farmers tea growersand coffee farmers is immense (20002)

In this structural and institutional lsquolsquoconvergencersquorsquo Dickinson explicitlysees an opportunity for lsquolsquobringing fair trade ideals to US farmersrsquorsquo andfor developing fair trade marketing in local regional and nationalcontexts as well as in the international frame

How might we assess Dickinsonrsquos ambition Are there indeed extantor emerging initiatives focused on marketing within in the UnitedStates that might plausibly fall under the rubric of lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo In factthere is a variety of such undertakings in all regions of the country Inorder to provide an empirical platform for further discussion we nowpro le ve of these initiatives with particular attention to the extent towhich these endogenous projects share characteristics commonlyassociated with North-South fair trade (see Table 1)

Red Tomato

Red Tomato is a marketing organization based in Canton Massachusettsthat distributes fresh fruits and vegetables from family farmers to retailsupermarkets food cooperatives and institutions in the Boston areaIf there is one initiative that might be expected to approximate theSouthNorth fair trade model most closely it is Red Tomato The

176 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

project was started in 1997 by Michael Rozyne who had earlier beena founder of Equal Exchange From direct conversations with staff itwas apparent to us that fair trade principles undergird Red Tomatorsquosapproach to facilitating market access for small sustainable farmersBut apart from a commitment to assuring a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo and to theestablishment of lsquolsquolong-term pricing agreementsrsquorsquo these principlesremain largely implicit in the organizationrsquos public face Indeed thewords lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo are almost completely absent from Red Tomatorsquospublic materials and point of sale advertising The only use of the termin its principal brochure comes in a description of its sibling EqualExchange

Dickinson (20002) explicitly outlines the similarities in the roles ofRed Tomato and Equal Exchange

Both groups are committed to connecting consumers tofarmers Both are actively engaged in the marketplace but arenot for pro t maximizing Both Equal Exchange and RedTomato are working with disadvantaged producers and bothare driven by cultures of worker innovation and control

Nevertheless Red Tomato has quite deliberately chosen to frame itspublic message in terms more familiar to North American consumersAccording to its brochure

Red Tomato is a nonpro t marketing organization that helpsfamily farmers survive and helps make sure that local people can nd high-quality affordable local produce (Red Tomato nd)

Rather than the formal certication and labeling characteristic ofSouth-North approaches to fair trade Red Tomato has chosen todevelop a lsquolsquobrandrsquorsquo of its own and that brand image does not include anexplicit fair trade element By way of explanation a Red Tomato staffmember distinguishes between lsquolsquofollowing fair trade principles versuscertifying or using fair trade principles to certifyrsquorsquo She is lsquolsquoverycomfortable saying Red Tomato follows fair trade principlesrsquorsquo but feelsthat many consumers in the United States are not now suf cientlyinformed or well enough developed politically to respond to a formalfair trade campaign focused on domestic produce and Americanfarmers (Red Tomato 2002)

Federation of Southern Cooperatives

Ironically fair trade is foregrounded by the Federation of SouthernCooperatives That organization is partnering with Red Tomato to bringto the New England market the watermelons and other produce grownby African-American family farmers in seven Southeastern states This

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 177

marketing relationship with a democratically run cooperative repre-sents another of the ways in which Red Tomatorsquos practices correspondto those found in South-North fair trading arrangements But whereRed Tomato prefers to accent the family farmlocalistenvironmentaldimensions of its product line the Federation of Southern Coopera-tives makes an unambiguous effort to deploy the moral charge of fairtrade in its outreach A Federation press release (20001) describing therelationship with Red Tomato is headlined lsquolsquoFederationLAF Engagedin lsquoFair Tradersquo Practices to Serve Family Farmers and Customersrsquorsquo andstates

Our goal at the FederationLAF is to make sure farmers aretreated fairly in the marketplace We want lsquofair tradersquo forfarmersmdashone that rst considers the farmerrsquos costs and pro t[ ] we hope it will serve as a model for family farmers acrossthe country

The FederationRed Tomato project directly addresses concernsfamiliar to the Latin American and African coffee farmers with whomEqual Exchange is accustomed to dealing the power of distributors andretailers the desire for collective action by producers and for closerlinkages with consumers the need for long-term contracts and ofcourse for a fair price

The FederationLAF rst asked the farmers what they consid-ered to be a fair price for their watermelon Once that wasdetermined all their costs were factored in above the farmerrsquosprice such as transportation and other overhead costs The FairTrade model considers the farmer rst and foremost and byeliminating the lsquolsquomiddlemanrsquorsquo the consumers also have a moredirect relationship with farmers which is a win-win situation forall concerned (Federation of Southern Cooperatives 20001)

The Federation then clearly sees the lsquolsquoconvergencersquorsquo referred to byDickinson and appreciates the potential of domestic fair trade directlymobilizing the language of fair trade to illustrate both the disadvan-tages its members face and the route to improving their situation

Family Farmer Cheese

Family Farmer Cheese is a joint project of the Wisconsin-based dairyfarm advocacy group Family Farm Defenders (FFD) and a cheesemanufacturer Cedar Grove Cheese Founded in the 1970s FFD haslong been actively involved in struggles to reform federal milkmarketing regulations and pricing policies oppose the new biotech-nologies and counter agribusiness consolidation Recognizing that

178 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

efforts to in uence federal legislation were important but slow theorganization sought ways to keep small dairy farmers in business in theshort run Family Farm Defendersrsquo leadership met with a localcheesemaker whose small family-owned factory was one of the fewsurviving facilities in what had once been a thriving regional industryAccording to FFD founder Francis Goodman lsquolsquoWe decided to marketa cheese brand based on a fair relationship between trading partnersproviding consumers an opportunity to vote for family dairy farms withtheir food dollars and providing family dairy farmers nancial securityrsquorsquo(Leinberger 19991)

The critical foundations of the Family Farmer Cheese initiative area guaranteed price for milk and a label All cheese sold under theFamily Farmer Cheese label is purchased from farmers at $16 perhundredweight (the market price at the time of writing is around the $9level) Milk is purchased from individual farmers and from the ScenicCentral Milk Producers Co-op another project of FFD Farmers sellingto the project must agree not to use recombinant bovine growthhormone to use sustainable methods of farming and to care foranimals in a humane way Family Farm Defenders and Cedar Grovecheese share marketing and distribution responsibilities and thecheese can be purchased by mail and through retail food cooperativesand natural foods stores throughout southern Wisconsin

The capacity to pay a fair price to farmers ultimately depends on thewillingness of consumers to pay a premium price for the cheese at retailoutlets This willingness is engendered by the cheesersquos distinctive labeland by other educational and outreach materials The FamilyFarmer Cheese label does not refer to fair trade or even fairness Itis distinctive however in its linking of farmers consumers and processor

Family Farm Defenders is a non-pro t organization composedof small family farmers and concerned consumers By choosingFamily Farmer brand you become part of an alliance workingtoward a safe sustainable food production system Our milkcomes from small dairy farmers who use no arti cial growthhormones (Family Farmer Cheese 2000)

Family Farm Defenders is comprised of non-farm citizens as well asfarmers and the organization takes a more systemic perspective than iscommonly encountered in alternative food initiatives Family FarmDefendersrsquo mission statement emphasizes not the virtues of localconsumption but the possibilities inherent in mobilization fordemocratic practice

We adhere to the principle of democracy by empoweringfarmers to speak for and represent themselves in the quest for

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 179

economic justice and responsible sustainable agriculturalpolicies the Family Farm Defenders is dedicated to speakingout against all the forces threatening the long-term survival ofrural America and to preserving a diverse safe and wholesomefood supply at an affordable price for consumers (Family FarmDefenders nd)

Midwest Food Alliance

The initiative that most closely resembles the characteristic criteria-certication-labeling arrangement of international (South-North) fairtrade may be that of the Midwest Food Alliance The Alliance hasestablished a set of lsquolsquoGuiding Principlesrsquorsquo which it uses as a frameworkfor formal third party certication of producers of meat freshvegetables and fruits Farm operations that conform to the guidingprinciples may use the lsquolsquoMidwest Food Alliance Approvedrsquorsquo seal tomarket their products The Alliance is engaged in an extensive programof consumer outreach and education as it attempts to make a placefor Alliance-labeled products in supermarkets in the Minneapolis-St Paul area

Though the superstructure of the Alliance program is similar to thelsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo fair trade model certain core elements of that paradigmare missing That the organizationrsquos literature and web site make noreference at all to lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is not necessarily surprising given thelack of engagement of all the US projects with that particularterminology But the Midwest Food Alliance also avoids an appeal to theneed for a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo or to the survival of small farmers Indeed inAlliance materials it is even dif cult to nd use of the term lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo so liberally deployed by the other initiatives we have reviewedNot only does the Midwest Food Alliance use the unquali ed termlsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo it also focuses more attention on the sustainability ofparticular production practices than on the survivability of particularkinds of farmers Farms should be lsquolsquopro tablersquorsquo but that pro tability isunderstood and presented by the Alliance as a function of effectivepresence in the marketplace and in the demands of consumers and notas an ethical or rights-based claim to a particular price While theproject works hard to create market access for the farmers they certifythe Alliance provides no oor price long-term contracts advancepayment or credit

The Midwest Food alliance is considerably less lsquolsquofarm-centricrsquorsquo thanthe other initiatives pro led here And paradoxically perhaps becauseof that orientation the project nds it appropriate to include theinterests of labor and the wider community in the guiding principles

180 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

which shape its certication process In addition to eight principlesrelating to agronomic and conservation practices farmers certi ed bythe Alliance must adhere to the following social axiom

Providing safe and fair working conditions for our employeesand our families For example we develop farm policies inorder to establish open channels for communicating workplacesafety and satisfaction We incorporate quality of life issuesinto our daily decision making process for ourselves ourfamilies our employees and our broader communities (Mid-west Food Alliance nd)

Without seeing the individual farm plans that must be drawn up forcerti ers it is dif cult to know how such generalities translate intoconcrete actions Still inclusion of what the Alliance calls lsquolsquohumanresource developmentrsquorsquo in its criteria is an important step towarda version of North-North fair trade that envisions justice for socialsectors beyond the lsquolsquofamily farmrsquorsquo

UFW Fair Trade Apple Campaign

If the Midwest Food Alliance has begun to address the interests andconcerns of agricultural workers the Fair Trade Apple Campaign of theUnited Farm Workers (UFW) union actually privileges labor as theprojectrsquos point of departure The UFW is well known for its efforts onbehalf of farm workersmdashparticularly the California grape boycottsmdashand has long sought to connect consumers to workersrsquo struggle for justtreatment in the nationrsquos fruit and vegetable elds The UFWrsquos base inLatino farmworker communities and its involvement in cross-borderlabor solidarity give the term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo an appealing resonance forthe UFW and the organization is explicit in terming its nascentinitiative the lsquolsquoWashington Fair Trade Apple Campaign (WAFTA)rsquorsquo

The apple industry is a highly globalized market Imported applesfrom Chile New Zealand and South Africa now compete intensely withthose grown in Washington and other states Washingtonrsquos familygrowers still the large majority of apple farmers are besieged bya combination of forces Consolidation in packing and distributionretail sourcing practices favoring the largest growers and delays of 12 to18 months in payment for their fruit have eroded growersrsquo market powerand pushed them into debilitating debt cycles (Jarosz and Qazi 20005ndash6Gamboa 2002) Growers receive only 11 percent of what consumers payat retail even though the retail pro t margin on apples is 32 percenthigher than for virtually any other grocery item (UFW 2001)

Squeezed from above small family apple growers often pass the painon to their workforce The statersquos apple workersmdashover 80 percent of

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 181

Mexican origin and often undocumentedmdashtake home an averageyearly salary of $7654 far below the poverty line (Jarosz and Qazi 2000BCGEU 2001) In both orchards and packing houses unions say thatworkers face discrimination are denied the right to organize andbargain collectively and do not enjoy health and safety protectionsguaranteed by state law (UFW 2001) Indeed the Washington appleindustry today remains 100 percent non-union (Gamboa 2002) Ratherthan focus their attention solely on laborrsquos immediate employersunions hoping to organize apple workers identify the structuraldynamics hurting both growers and workers

The US agricultural community grew and prospered on thevalues of a lsquolsquofair returnrsquorsquo for those who risk the most and a lsquolsquodecentwagersquorsquo for a hard dayrsquos work Todayrsquos new global economythreatens to erode these values even further The apple industryis unfair Smaller family-owned farms are going bankruptbecause corporations pay less per box than it costs growers tocultivate and harvest their crops (BCGEU 2001)

Accordingly the UFW is launching its Washington Fair Trade AppleCampaign as an lsquolsquoeconomic collaborationrsquorsquo with family growers andgrower collectives that lsquolsquouses consumer pressure on retailers to paygrowers more for their fruitrsquorsquo (BCGEU 2001) Having identied thegrowersrsquo entrapment in a cost-price squeeze as the root cause ofworkersrsquo problems the union hopes that rather than pitting growersagainst labor both will gain if family apple farmers were to receive a fairprice Guadalupe Gamboa the UFWrsquos National Vice President anddirector of the apple campaign insists that workersrsquo resentment fortheir poor conditions is not directed principally at family growers

[It] is mainly against the packers the companies who are theworst abusers of workers The problem in the past is that familygrowers have identied with the big companies Wersquore trying tobreak that by showing them that theyrsquore more like the workersbecause they donrsquot have any say in the price they get (2002)

The fair trade apple campaign will label apples produced under thisgrower-worker collaboration with the UFWrsquos black eagle symbol(Paynter 2001) The seal will be conditioned upon growersrsquo enteringinto collective bargaining agreements with the UFW guaranteeingbetter wages health and safety guarantees and respect for basic laborlaws (eg workers compensation) In return the union hopes to offersmall growers volume buying long-term contracts and better and moreconsistent prices by bypassing distributors and negotiating directly withmajor grocery chains interested in the seal The fruit will initially besold in the largest west coast citiesmdashincluding Seattle Sacramento

182 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

San Francisco and Los Angelesmdashviewed by the union as lsquolsquosolidaritymarketsrsquorsquo (Gamboa 2002) where recognition of the UFW and sympathyfor farmworker issues run high

Rather than setting a minimum lsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price as in fair trade coffeethe fair trade apple initiative centers upon a living wage and respect forlabor rights much like the lsquolsquoplantation modalityrsquorsquo of the internationalfair trade movement The UFW is asserting that such rights are centralto the trading equation The union draws parallels between fair tradeapples fairly traded coffee and international anti-sweatshop campaignsall of which seek to reform lsquolsquounjustrsquorsquo practices in their respective in-dustries through consumer education and pressure

South-South Initiatives Inclusion

A key question in realizing the promise of fair trade initiatives togenerate greater social equity and justice is their inclusiveness If accessto fair trade markets is constrained by entry barriers such as qualitystandards or competition between producer groups for limited marketdemand the movementrsquos transformative potential will be limitedGoodman and Goodman (2001115) frame clearly the challenge posedby the quality issue

while fair trade organic has opened up lsquolsquospaces of inclusionrsquorsquofor small-scale producers the dictates of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquo act as anexclusionary force at odds with the relational ethic of themovement Many producers typically the poorest in bothresources and natural endowments even if they can meet thecosts of organic certication may be excluded from thenetwork because of the strict quality standards imposed byimporters and suppliers

In addition producing for high-value global niche markets bringsboth opportunities and a new set of demands and complexities for ruralproducers (Ericson 1999) These markets with their concomitantdemands for product consistency quantity quality and timely deliveryand pressures to adapt to ckle consumer tastes and styles can posethreats to community well-being and cohesion particularly in highlytraditional and indigenous communities

The potential for exclusion assert Goodman and Goodman (2001115) extends to the sites of consumption as well as production

the premium attached to fair trade organic [products]makes them high-priced luxury items out of reach of theeveryday purchases of lower-income consumers Nor is theremuch consumption of these products in either the local orregional Southern contexts of their production [ ] new

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 183

institutional mechanisms will be needed to promote moresocially inclusive patterns of sustainable consumption

However there are emerging fair trade initiatives located within theglobal South that provide provocative responses to these very problemsand pose a challenge both to the conceptualization of socially consciousconsumerism and to the balance of power within the fair trademovement Some of the most promising of these initiatives are takingplace in Mexico and we turn now to examining two of them

Comercio Justo Mexico

Mexico was the birthplace of the international fair trade movement in itscurrent form The original fair trade sealmdashMax Havelaarmdashwas created inresponse to the request of organized Mexican coffee producers foraccess on equitable terms and in signi cant quantities to Europeanmarkets For the rst time lsquolsquofairly-producedrsquorsquo commodities were tradedwith suf cient volume to generate real social bene ts for small farmersUnder these fair trade arrangements some coffee and honey producerassociations have realized improvements in social and economicconditions for their families and communities (Pruyn 2001)

However it has become clear that international fair trade sales are notand will not become a panacea even for coffee growers Despite Mexicorsquosstatus as the worldrsquos largest exporter of fair trade coffee (Raynolds 2000)international consumer demand remains far below supply and not allcommunities can afford organic certication or are appropriatelylocated to produce quality high-grown arabica coffeemdashboth virtuallyrequirements to enter the Northern fair trade market Other productssuch as bananas cacao and orange juice are in the very early stages of fairtrade market development The vast majority of peasant farmersmoreover are not even geographically situated to grow these potentiallyhigh-value crops

Mexican civil society groups and organized producer groups came torealize that even with enormous growth fair trade exports could neverconstitute a major development solution in and of themselves Forall but a few of the best organized coffee cooperatives for exampleNorthern fair trade markets represent only a small fraction of theirsales and at best a modest additional increment to producersrsquo incomes

In response these organizations formed Comercio Justo Mexico (FairTrade Mexico) in 1999 with a vision of building a domestic fair trademarket The organization has developed a Mexican fair trade label whichmade its debut in 2001 and is the rst such seal in a Southern nation

[T]hese Mexican small producers do not only sell their goodson the international fair trade market A signi cant part of

184 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

their production continues to be sold in the domestic marketwhich is equally plagued by destructive intermediarism Thesmall producers need our nationrsquos internal market to generatemore just trading relations and they need consumers torecognize their products The lsquolsquoFair Trade Seal of Mexicorsquorsquomakes it possible for these small producers to distinguish theirproducts and allows the consumer to have trust thatmdashwiththeir purchasemdashthey are helping the Mexican farmers most inneed (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001a)

This comprehensive initiative is composed of three separate entitiesComercio Justo Mexico AC (Fair Trade Mexico) is a promotional andeducational group that combines several civil society development NGOsand peasant producer organizations Agromercados SA (Agromarkets)is a marketing body for fair trade products owned by the small producermember organizations (of each speci c product) themselves AndCertimex an independent Mexican organic certier is responsible formonitoring adherence to fair trade criteria Agromercados is establish-ing a chain of coffee shops in numerous cities to promote the sale oforganic and fair trade coffee and has created a single domestic fair tradecoffee brand label (Cafe Fertil) for all its small coffee producer members

With direct participation from grassroots producer groups and civilsociety organizations Comercio Justo has developed a set of general fairtrade criteria based on international standards as well as speci c qualityand certication standards for coffee and is doing the same for fourother products cacao honey handicrafts and basic grains (principallycorn) Comercio Justo stresses that its system is designed for organizedpeasant producers andmdashunlike international fair trade certiersmdashitdoes not intend to develop a separate lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo for plantationagriculture or wage labor

If building demand for fair trade products in the rich North isa formidable task creating a domestic fair trade market in the ThirdWorld would seem a challenge of Herculean proportions HoweverComercio Justo believes that socially conscious consumerism is not re-stricted to those with discretionary incomeThe group insists that by elim-inating intermediaries fairly traded products can be sold at a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo priceto the producer will be competitive with comparable conventionallyproduced goods and can even help address long-standing complaintsabout the quality of domestic products

The low prices paid to small producers on the national marketmean that the best Mexican products are exported Fair Trademakes it possible for small producers to also receive digniedprices in the national market and to not depend exclusively onexport (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001b)

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 185

The group is already selling fair trade labeled Cafe Fertil in mainstreamsupermarkets and restaurants through contracts with large retailersaccompanied by major promotion and consumer education campaignsa strategy that has been key to the success of fair trade coffee bananasand chocolate in Europe

The development of a Southern national fair trade seal also raisesinteresting issues of power and control within the fair trade movementAt stake here is the very potent question of who is empowered to certifywhom in the international fair trade movement Despite the fact thatSouthern producers do participate as members in some internationalfair trade organizations the agenda priorities and criteria for fairtrade have to date been set in the North (Renard 2003 Raynolds 2000)Other authors also note the lsquolsquoasymmetries of power at work in decidingwhat is fairrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001114) The Mexican fairtrade seal says Comercio Justo constitutes a lsquolsquosocial certicationrsquorsquo withone part of civil society certifyingmdashand regulatingmdashanother part of thesociety As such it enrolls both Southern producers and Southernconsumers in the process of (re)constructing what Renard (1999484)calls fair tradersquos lsquolsquosymbolic social meaningrsquorsquo

Fair Trade Tortillerias

One of the partners in the Comercio Justo Mexico network is ANECthe National Association of Peasant Marketing Enterprises ANECwhich represents small- to medium-sized producers of basic grains in 20of Mexicorsquos 31 states is engaged in a separate but related initiative thatspeaks to a key Mexican grievance over lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquomdashthe majorongoing rural crisis precipitated by the opening of the Mexican marketunder NAFTA Low quality imported corn mainly from the US hasundercut even the most ef cient Mexican producers and contributedto the rural exodus to large cities and to the US The quality of tortillashas declined in tandem (with an increasing proportion of dry cornmeal as opposed to whole-ground corn present in even lsquolsquofreshrsquorsquotortillas) and prices have soared as the last federal subsidies and pricecontrols are eliminated (Suarez 2002)

ANECrsquos vision is ambitious a national chain of tortillerias sellingfresh-ground tortillas made with GMO-free Mexican corn grown by theorganizationrsquos members and certied with the Comercio Justo Mexicoseal As of this writing ANEC has opened three tortillerias and hopes toexpand to 20 states by 2005 and nationwide (via franchises) by 2007Victor Suarez ANECrsquos Executive Director asserts that the seal holdsrelevance for domestic consumers

The fair trade seal plays the role of assuring the buyer that thetortilla has a guarantee in all phases of the process [that it

186 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

from progressive development NGOs was lsquolsquotrade not aidrsquorsquo (Renard200389)

A watershed event for the fair trade movement was the creation ofthe Max Havelaar label in the Netherlands in 1988 The Dutchdevelopment organization Solidaridad was approached by Mexicancoffee farmers from the UCIRI cooperative in Oaxaca state who wereseeking to expand markets for their product beyond token salesthrough European lsquolsquoworld shopsrsquorsquo Solidaridad created a fair trade labelwhich could be placed on coffee sold under any brand in mainstreamretail venues (Renard 2000) Max Havelaar licenses the use of the labelto coffee roasters and retailers who agree to be certied for theircompliance with its criteria of fairness in trade The label somewhatlike its eco-label counterparts on organic foods is intended to conductto the prospective purchaser the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo the coffee can beunderstood to carry as a result of the conditions of its production Therapid growth of fair trade organizations in Europe during the 1980s andthe US during the 1990s and the creation of an internationalcerti cation body in 1997 re ect the degree to which this form ofalternative trade is being institutionalized

The core principle of fair trade initiatives is obtaining a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquofor Southern producersrsquo goods by making commodity chains bothshorter and fairer Through alternative trade networks that bypasstraditional intermediaries small farmers and producer organizationsare able in some cases to reap as much as 40 percent of the nalpurchase price But fair trade organizations make it clear that theconnectivity they hope to foster between Southern producers andNorthern consumers goes far beyond the narrow objective of priceAccording to certier TransFair USA

Fair trade bene ts many From farmers in producer countriesto students in a US school studying the environment theconcept and practice of fair trade connects producers andconsumers in new and powerful ways It is the nexus formeeting both environmental and economic considerations ofindigenous peoples re-balancing the trading relationshipbetween North and South building a link between US policyand publics to a larger world community that is knocking at thedoor (20021)

Raynoldsrsquo assertion that fair trade lsquolsquosuggests provocative possibilitiesfor socially re-linking production trade and consumption andchallenging the domination of the agro-food system by oligopolistictransnational corporationsrsquorsquo (20011) may appear hyperbolic but this isprecisely what fair trade organizations intend

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 173

In order to receive fair trade certication these production ar-rangements must meet speci ed criteria While various fair trade or-ganizations phrase the standards somewhat differently Table 1 lists themost commonly used criteria drawn from a variety of fair tradeschemata Producers typically must receive a guaranteed minimum orlsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price to cover production costs and protect against market uctuations as well as a lsquolsquosocial premiumrsquorsquo directed to social de-velopment Other criteria include providing credit or partial pay-ment in advance of harvest long-term trading contracts nancialtransparency environmentally-sound practices and increased controlby producers over marketing and production (Fair Trade Federation2000) Fair trade certiers have also developed a second lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo tocertify fairness in crops such as bananas and tea which are producedlargely on plantations by waged workers These standards includepayment of a lsquolsquoliving wagersquorsquo decent working conditions and respect forthe right to join unions (Pruyn 2001) Coffee was the rst fairly tradedfood commodity and remains the most signi cant with 240 producerorganizations now on the international fair trade coffee registerrepresenting 490000 grower families Certication has now expandedto other products including bananas tea sugar cocoa honeypineapples mangoes and orange juice (Theunissen 2002 Rice2001) Worldwide sales of certied fair trade products grew 22 percentin 2001 to reach $235 million bene ting 800000 families Fair tradebananas coffee and chocolate have captured an important share of themarket in several western European nations (FLO 2002a)

However it is not yet clear whether fair trade as currently constitutedcan become more than a marginal alternative and assume a role as a realforce for the reform and even transformation of conventional unequalexchange relationships It is this issue that most concerns DavidGoodman and Michael Goodman in their review of the lsquolsquosocialimaginariesrsquorsquo of organic agriculture eco-labeling and fair trade

Table 1 Most Common Fair Trade Criteria

n Fair prices to producers fair wages to laborers ( oor or minimum priceswages socialdevelopment premium)

n Advance credit or payment to producersn Democratically run producer cooperatives or workplacesn Long-term contracts and trading relationshipsn Environmentally sustainable production practicesn Public accountability and nancial transparencyn Financial and technical assistance to producersn Safe non-exploitative working conditions

(Sources Global Exchange 2002 Equal Exchange 2002 FLO 2002b TransFair USA2002 Fair Trade Federation 2002)

174 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Progressive change requires a lsquolsquosymmetrical socio-ecologicalrsquorsquo concep-tualization of sustainability that facilitates political engagement(Goodman and Goodman 2001115) Yet the current technocentricstandards-based construction of lsquolsquoorganicrsquorsquo and of most eco-labelsignores the social conditions of production and these manifestationsof lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo are coming to approximate conventional agro-foodsystems in their patterns of farm structure labor organization andmarketing (Guthman 2000) In contrast Goodman and Goodman(2001111) nd fair trade labels to be uniquely potent since theyencompass lsquolsquoboth organic production processes and the bundle ofethical labour and commercial practices which encode alternative eco-social production relations into the constitution of these productsrsquorsquoThe fair trade networkrsquos eco-social imaginaries they assert offera deeper richer and more radical promise of transformation

We argue that the bundle of core elements that constitute fair trade arenot found only in the international arrangements to which the term isconventionally applied but can also be applied to the activities of somealternative agro-food networks within the North and within the South Iffair trade can indeed facilitate action at such a distance that it createsa moral and a material connectivity across continents should it not alsofunction similarly across shorter distances If fair trade is so compellingand engaging a discursive construct for socially embedding Dutchconsumer behavior in regard to Mexican coffee might it not functionsimilarly in shaping the choices a Wisconsin consumer makes in buyingcheese or the way a resident of Mexico City decides to purchase tortillas

These questions so far have not been engaged by the literatures oncontemporary agro-food transformations Fair trade has been treated asa special and somewhat idiosyncratic case within the larger set ofalternativesustainable food problematics This is somewhat curioussince the features of fair trade initiatives intersect with the key analyticsof placelocality social embeddedness and quality But studies of theconstruction of short food supply chains in Europe (eg Marsden et al1999 Miele 1999) do not reference the parallel efforts of Third Worldfair trade producers to circumvent intermediaries and jump-start ruraldevelopment Analyses of the social embeddedness associated withalternative and direct marketing of foods have not foregroundedconsiderations of equity even as fair trade coffee is sold at farmersmarkets alongside local produce The intense examination of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquonow under way does not substantively encompass lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo as a meansof framing preferences (Goodman 2003 Winter 2003)

As Whatmore and Thorne note lsquolsquoperformance of lsquofairnessrsquo ratherthan charityrsquorsquo is a powerful means of establishing lsquolsquoconnectivityrsquorsquobetween peasant and indigenous coffee producers in the South and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 175

consumers in the North (1997299) This performance is also at work ina number of initiatives both within the North and within the SouthExploring the construction and deployment of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo on thesemore limited terrains is both theoretically and practically useful and wenow turn our attention in this direction

North-North Initiatives Convergence

One of the de ning features of economic globalization is that it tiestogether the fates of people at opposite corners of the earth in new andcomplex ways In the second of the two quotes that open this article RinkDickinson co-director of Equal Exchange Coffee highlights the simi-larity in the structural position of many farmers in both the North andSouth His comment describes a project called Red Tomato which bringsthe produce of southern small farmers to New England grocery stores

The Equal Exchange warehouse houses organic coffee frompeasant farmers in Oaxaca Mexico It houses watermelonsfrom disadvantaged black farmers from Georgia SouthCarolina and other parts of the south Both the watermelonand the coffee farmers have created co-ops to arrangemarketing and give them a chance against larger growers andprocessors The implications of this convergence between thework of the watermelon farmers peach farmers tea growersand coffee farmers is immense (20002)

In this structural and institutional lsquolsquoconvergencersquorsquo Dickinson explicitlysees an opportunity for lsquolsquobringing fair trade ideals to US farmersrsquorsquo andfor developing fair trade marketing in local regional and nationalcontexts as well as in the international frame

How might we assess Dickinsonrsquos ambition Are there indeed extantor emerging initiatives focused on marketing within in the UnitedStates that might plausibly fall under the rubric of lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo In factthere is a variety of such undertakings in all regions of the country Inorder to provide an empirical platform for further discussion we nowpro le ve of these initiatives with particular attention to the extent towhich these endogenous projects share characteristics commonlyassociated with North-South fair trade (see Table 1)

Red Tomato

Red Tomato is a marketing organization based in Canton Massachusettsthat distributes fresh fruits and vegetables from family farmers to retailsupermarkets food cooperatives and institutions in the Boston areaIf there is one initiative that might be expected to approximate theSouthNorth fair trade model most closely it is Red Tomato The

176 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

project was started in 1997 by Michael Rozyne who had earlier beena founder of Equal Exchange From direct conversations with staff itwas apparent to us that fair trade principles undergird Red Tomatorsquosapproach to facilitating market access for small sustainable farmersBut apart from a commitment to assuring a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo and to theestablishment of lsquolsquolong-term pricing agreementsrsquorsquo these principlesremain largely implicit in the organizationrsquos public face Indeed thewords lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo are almost completely absent from Red Tomatorsquospublic materials and point of sale advertising The only use of the termin its principal brochure comes in a description of its sibling EqualExchange

Dickinson (20002) explicitly outlines the similarities in the roles ofRed Tomato and Equal Exchange

Both groups are committed to connecting consumers tofarmers Both are actively engaged in the marketplace but arenot for pro t maximizing Both Equal Exchange and RedTomato are working with disadvantaged producers and bothare driven by cultures of worker innovation and control

Nevertheless Red Tomato has quite deliberately chosen to frame itspublic message in terms more familiar to North American consumersAccording to its brochure

Red Tomato is a nonpro t marketing organization that helpsfamily farmers survive and helps make sure that local people can nd high-quality affordable local produce (Red Tomato nd)

Rather than the formal certication and labeling characteristic ofSouth-North approaches to fair trade Red Tomato has chosen todevelop a lsquolsquobrandrsquorsquo of its own and that brand image does not include anexplicit fair trade element By way of explanation a Red Tomato staffmember distinguishes between lsquolsquofollowing fair trade principles versuscertifying or using fair trade principles to certifyrsquorsquo She is lsquolsquoverycomfortable saying Red Tomato follows fair trade principlesrsquorsquo but feelsthat many consumers in the United States are not now suf cientlyinformed or well enough developed politically to respond to a formalfair trade campaign focused on domestic produce and Americanfarmers (Red Tomato 2002)

Federation of Southern Cooperatives

Ironically fair trade is foregrounded by the Federation of SouthernCooperatives That organization is partnering with Red Tomato to bringto the New England market the watermelons and other produce grownby African-American family farmers in seven Southeastern states This

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 177

marketing relationship with a democratically run cooperative repre-sents another of the ways in which Red Tomatorsquos practices correspondto those found in South-North fair trading arrangements But whereRed Tomato prefers to accent the family farmlocalistenvironmentaldimensions of its product line the Federation of Southern Coopera-tives makes an unambiguous effort to deploy the moral charge of fairtrade in its outreach A Federation press release (20001) describing therelationship with Red Tomato is headlined lsquolsquoFederationLAF Engagedin lsquoFair Tradersquo Practices to Serve Family Farmers and Customersrsquorsquo andstates

Our goal at the FederationLAF is to make sure farmers aretreated fairly in the marketplace We want lsquofair tradersquo forfarmersmdashone that rst considers the farmerrsquos costs and pro t[ ] we hope it will serve as a model for family farmers acrossthe country

The FederationRed Tomato project directly addresses concernsfamiliar to the Latin American and African coffee farmers with whomEqual Exchange is accustomed to dealing the power of distributors andretailers the desire for collective action by producers and for closerlinkages with consumers the need for long-term contracts and ofcourse for a fair price

The FederationLAF rst asked the farmers what they consid-ered to be a fair price for their watermelon Once that wasdetermined all their costs were factored in above the farmerrsquosprice such as transportation and other overhead costs The FairTrade model considers the farmer rst and foremost and byeliminating the lsquolsquomiddlemanrsquorsquo the consumers also have a moredirect relationship with farmers which is a win-win situation forall concerned (Federation of Southern Cooperatives 20001)

The Federation then clearly sees the lsquolsquoconvergencersquorsquo referred to byDickinson and appreciates the potential of domestic fair trade directlymobilizing the language of fair trade to illustrate both the disadvan-tages its members face and the route to improving their situation

Family Farmer Cheese

Family Farmer Cheese is a joint project of the Wisconsin-based dairyfarm advocacy group Family Farm Defenders (FFD) and a cheesemanufacturer Cedar Grove Cheese Founded in the 1970s FFD haslong been actively involved in struggles to reform federal milkmarketing regulations and pricing policies oppose the new biotech-nologies and counter agribusiness consolidation Recognizing that

178 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

efforts to in uence federal legislation were important but slow theorganization sought ways to keep small dairy farmers in business in theshort run Family Farm Defendersrsquo leadership met with a localcheesemaker whose small family-owned factory was one of the fewsurviving facilities in what had once been a thriving regional industryAccording to FFD founder Francis Goodman lsquolsquoWe decided to marketa cheese brand based on a fair relationship between trading partnersproviding consumers an opportunity to vote for family dairy farms withtheir food dollars and providing family dairy farmers nancial securityrsquorsquo(Leinberger 19991)

The critical foundations of the Family Farmer Cheese initiative area guaranteed price for milk and a label All cheese sold under theFamily Farmer Cheese label is purchased from farmers at $16 perhundredweight (the market price at the time of writing is around the $9level) Milk is purchased from individual farmers and from the ScenicCentral Milk Producers Co-op another project of FFD Farmers sellingto the project must agree not to use recombinant bovine growthhormone to use sustainable methods of farming and to care foranimals in a humane way Family Farm Defenders and Cedar Grovecheese share marketing and distribution responsibilities and thecheese can be purchased by mail and through retail food cooperativesand natural foods stores throughout southern Wisconsin

The capacity to pay a fair price to farmers ultimately depends on thewillingness of consumers to pay a premium price for the cheese at retailoutlets This willingness is engendered by the cheesersquos distinctive labeland by other educational and outreach materials The FamilyFarmer Cheese label does not refer to fair trade or even fairness Itis distinctive however in its linking of farmers consumers and processor

Family Farm Defenders is a non-pro t organization composedof small family farmers and concerned consumers By choosingFamily Farmer brand you become part of an alliance workingtoward a safe sustainable food production system Our milkcomes from small dairy farmers who use no arti cial growthhormones (Family Farmer Cheese 2000)

Family Farm Defenders is comprised of non-farm citizens as well asfarmers and the organization takes a more systemic perspective than iscommonly encountered in alternative food initiatives Family FarmDefendersrsquo mission statement emphasizes not the virtues of localconsumption but the possibilities inherent in mobilization fordemocratic practice

We adhere to the principle of democracy by empoweringfarmers to speak for and represent themselves in the quest for

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 179

economic justice and responsible sustainable agriculturalpolicies the Family Farm Defenders is dedicated to speakingout against all the forces threatening the long-term survival ofrural America and to preserving a diverse safe and wholesomefood supply at an affordable price for consumers (Family FarmDefenders nd)

Midwest Food Alliance

The initiative that most closely resembles the characteristic criteria-certication-labeling arrangement of international (South-North) fairtrade may be that of the Midwest Food Alliance The Alliance hasestablished a set of lsquolsquoGuiding Principlesrsquorsquo which it uses as a frameworkfor formal third party certication of producers of meat freshvegetables and fruits Farm operations that conform to the guidingprinciples may use the lsquolsquoMidwest Food Alliance Approvedrsquorsquo seal tomarket their products The Alliance is engaged in an extensive programof consumer outreach and education as it attempts to make a placefor Alliance-labeled products in supermarkets in the Minneapolis-St Paul area

Though the superstructure of the Alliance program is similar to thelsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo fair trade model certain core elements of that paradigmare missing That the organizationrsquos literature and web site make noreference at all to lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is not necessarily surprising given thelack of engagement of all the US projects with that particularterminology But the Midwest Food Alliance also avoids an appeal to theneed for a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo or to the survival of small farmers Indeed inAlliance materials it is even dif cult to nd use of the term lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo so liberally deployed by the other initiatives we have reviewedNot only does the Midwest Food Alliance use the unquali ed termlsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo it also focuses more attention on the sustainability ofparticular production practices than on the survivability of particularkinds of farmers Farms should be lsquolsquopro tablersquorsquo but that pro tability isunderstood and presented by the Alliance as a function of effectivepresence in the marketplace and in the demands of consumers and notas an ethical or rights-based claim to a particular price While theproject works hard to create market access for the farmers they certifythe Alliance provides no oor price long-term contracts advancepayment or credit

The Midwest Food alliance is considerably less lsquolsquofarm-centricrsquorsquo thanthe other initiatives pro led here And paradoxically perhaps becauseof that orientation the project nds it appropriate to include theinterests of labor and the wider community in the guiding principles

180 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

which shape its certication process In addition to eight principlesrelating to agronomic and conservation practices farmers certi ed bythe Alliance must adhere to the following social axiom

Providing safe and fair working conditions for our employeesand our families For example we develop farm policies inorder to establish open channels for communicating workplacesafety and satisfaction We incorporate quality of life issuesinto our daily decision making process for ourselves ourfamilies our employees and our broader communities (Mid-west Food Alliance nd)

Without seeing the individual farm plans that must be drawn up forcerti ers it is dif cult to know how such generalities translate intoconcrete actions Still inclusion of what the Alliance calls lsquolsquohumanresource developmentrsquorsquo in its criteria is an important step towarda version of North-North fair trade that envisions justice for socialsectors beyond the lsquolsquofamily farmrsquorsquo

UFW Fair Trade Apple Campaign

If the Midwest Food Alliance has begun to address the interests andconcerns of agricultural workers the Fair Trade Apple Campaign of theUnited Farm Workers (UFW) union actually privileges labor as theprojectrsquos point of departure The UFW is well known for its efforts onbehalf of farm workersmdashparticularly the California grape boycottsmdashand has long sought to connect consumers to workersrsquo struggle for justtreatment in the nationrsquos fruit and vegetable elds The UFWrsquos base inLatino farmworker communities and its involvement in cross-borderlabor solidarity give the term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo an appealing resonance forthe UFW and the organization is explicit in terming its nascentinitiative the lsquolsquoWashington Fair Trade Apple Campaign (WAFTA)rsquorsquo

The apple industry is a highly globalized market Imported applesfrom Chile New Zealand and South Africa now compete intensely withthose grown in Washington and other states Washingtonrsquos familygrowers still the large majority of apple farmers are besieged bya combination of forces Consolidation in packing and distributionretail sourcing practices favoring the largest growers and delays of 12 to18 months in payment for their fruit have eroded growersrsquo market powerand pushed them into debilitating debt cycles (Jarosz and Qazi 20005ndash6Gamboa 2002) Growers receive only 11 percent of what consumers payat retail even though the retail pro t margin on apples is 32 percenthigher than for virtually any other grocery item (UFW 2001)

Squeezed from above small family apple growers often pass the painon to their workforce The statersquos apple workersmdashover 80 percent of

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 181

Mexican origin and often undocumentedmdashtake home an averageyearly salary of $7654 far below the poverty line (Jarosz and Qazi 2000BCGEU 2001) In both orchards and packing houses unions say thatworkers face discrimination are denied the right to organize andbargain collectively and do not enjoy health and safety protectionsguaranteed by state law (UFW 2001) Indeed the Washington appleindustry today remains 100 percent non-union (Gamboa 2002) Ratherthan focus their attention solely on laborrsquos immediate employersunions hoping to organize apple workers identify the structuraldynamics hurting both growers and workers

The US agricultural community grew and prospered on thevalues of a lsquolsquofair returnrsquorsquo for those who risk the most and a lsquolsquodecentwagersquorsquo for a hard dayrsquos work Todayrsquos new global economythreatens to erode these values even further The apple industryis unfair Smaller family-owned farms are going bankruptbecause corporations pay less per box than it costs growers tocultivate and harvest their crops (BCGEU 2001)

Accordingly the UFW is launching its Washington Fair Trade AppleCampaign as an lsquolsquoeconomic collaborationrsquorsquo with family growers andgrower collectives that lsquolsquouses consumer pressure on retailers to paygrowers more for their fruitrsquorsquo (BCGEU 2001) Having identied thegrowersrsquo entrapment in a cost-price squeeze as the root cause ofworkersrsquo problems the union hopes that rather than pitting growersagainst labor both will gain if family apple farmers were to receive a fairprice Guadalupe Gamboa the UFWrsquos National Vice President anddirector of the apple campaign insists that workersrsquo resentment fortheir poor conditions is not directed principally at family growers

[It] is mainly against the packers the companies who are theworst abusers of workers The problem in the past is that familygrowers have identied with the big companies Wersquore trying tobreak that by showing them that theyrsquore more like the workersbecause they donrsquot have any say in the price they get (2002)

The fair trade apple campaign will label apples produced under thisgrower-worker collaboration with the UFWrsquos black eagle symbol(Paynter 2001) The seal will be conditioned upon growersrsquo enteringinto collective bargaining agreements with the UFW guaranteeingbetter wages health and safety guarantees and respect for basic laborlaws (eg workers compensation) In return the union hopes to offersmall growers volume buying long-term contracts and better and moreconsistent prices by bypassing distributors and negotiating directly withmajor grocery chains interested in the seal The fruit will initially besold in the largest west coast citiesmdashincluding Seattle Sacramento

182 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

San Francisco and Los Angelesmdashviewed by the union as lsquolsquosolidaritymarketsrsquorsquo (Gamboa 2002) where recognition of the UFW and sympathyfor farmworker issues run high

Rather than setting a minimum lsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price as in fair trade coffeethe fair trade apple initiative centers upon a living wage and respect forlabor rights much like the lsquolsquoplantation modalityrsquorsquo of the internationalfair trade movement The UFW is asserting that such rights are centralto the trading equation The union draws parallels between fair tradeapples fairly traded coffee and international anti-sweatshop campaignsall of which seek to reform lsquolsquounjustrsquorsquo practices in their respective in-dustries through consumer education and pressure

South-South Initiatives Inclusion

A key question in realizing the promise of fair trade initiatives togenerate greater social equity and justice is their inclusiveness If accessto fair trade markets is constrained by entry barriers such as qualitystandards or competition between producer groups for limited marketdemand the movementrsquos transformative potential will be limitedGoodman and Goodman (2001115) frame clearly the challenge posedby the quality issue

while fair trade organic has opened up lsquolsquospaces of inclusionrsquorsquofor small-scale producers the dictates of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquo act as anexclusionary force at odds with the relational ethic of themovement Many producers typically the poorest in bothresources and natural endowments even if they can meet thecosts of organic certication may be excluded from thenetwork because of the strict quality standards imposed byimporters and suppliers

In addition producing for high-value global niche markets bringsboth opportunities and a new set of demands and complexities for ruralproducers (Ericson 1999) These markets with their concomitantdemands for product consistency quantity quality and timely deliveryand pressures to adapt to ckle consumer tastes and styles can posethreats to community well-being and cohesion particularly in highlytraditional and indigenous communities

The potential for exclusion assert Goodman and Goodman (2001115) extends to the sites of consumption as well as production

the premium attached to fair trade organic [products]makes them high-priced luxury items out of reach of theeveryday purchases of lower-income consumers Nor is theremuch consumption of these products in either the local orregional Southern contexts of their production [ ] new

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 183

institutional mechanisms will be needed to promote moresocially inclusive patterns of sustainable consumption

However there are emerging fair trade initiatives located within theglobal South that provide provocative responses to these very problemsand pose a challenge both to the conceptualization of socially consciousconsumerism and to the balance of power within the fair trademovement Some of the most promising of these initiatives are takingplace in Mexico and we turn now to examining two of them

Comercio Justo Mexico

Mexico was the birthplace of the international fair trade movement in itscurrent form The original fair trade sealmdashMax Havelaarmdashwas created inresponse to the request of organized Mexican coffee producers foraccess on equitable terms and in signi cant quantities to Europeanmarkets For the rst time lsquolsquofairly-producedrsquorsquo commodities were tradedwith suf cient volume to generate real social bene ts for small farmersUnder these fair trade arrangements some coffee and honey producerassociations have realized improvements in social and economicconditions for their families and communities (Pruyn 2001)

However it has become clear that international fair trade sales are notand will not become a panacea even for coffee growers Despite Mexicorsquosstatus as the worldrsquos largest exporter of fair trade coffee (Raynolds 2000)international consumer demand remains far below supply and not allcommunities can afford organic certication or are appropriatelylocated to produce quality high-grown arabica coffeemdashboth virtuallyrequirements to enter the Northern fair trade market Other productssuch as bananas cacao and orange juice are in the very early stages of fairtrade market development The vast majority of peasant farmersmoreover are not even geographically situated to grow these potentiallyhigh-value crops

Mexican civil society groups and organized producer groups came torealize that even with enormous growth fair trade exports could neverconstitute a major development solution in and of themselves Forall but a few of the best organized coffee cooperatives for exampleNorthern fair trade markets represent only a small fraction of theirsales and at best a modest additional increment to producersrsquo incomes

In response these organizations formed Comercio Justo Mexico (FairTrade Mexico) in 1999 with a vision of building a domestic fair trademarket The organization has developed a Mexican fair trade label whichmade its debut in 2001 and is the rst such seal in a Southern nation

[T]hese Mexican small producers do not only sell their goodson the international fair trade market A signi cant part of

184 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

their production continues to be sold in the domestic marketwhich is equally plagued by destructive intermediarism Thesmall producers need our nationrsquos internal market to generatemore just trading relations and they need consumers torecognize their products The lsquolsquoFair Trade Seal of Mexicorsquorsquomakes it possible for these small producers to distinguish theirproducts and allows the consumer to have trust thatmdashwiththeir purchasemdashthey are helping the Mexican farmers most inneed (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001a)

This comprehensive initiative is composed of three separate entitiesComercio Justo Mexico AC (Fair Trade Mexico) is a promotional andeducational group that combines several civil society development NGOsand peasant producer organizations Agromercados SA (Agromarkets)is a marketing body for fair trade products owned by the small producermember organizations (of each speci c product) themselves AndCertimex an independent Mexican organic certier is responsible formonitoring adherence to fair trade criteria Agromercados is establish-ing a chain of coffee shops in numerous cities to promote the sale oforganic and fair trade coffee and has created a single domestic fair tradecoffee brand label (Cafe Fertil) for all its small coffee producer members

With direct participation from grassroots producer groups and civilsociety organizations Comercio Justo has developed a set of general fairtrade criteria based on international standards as well as speci c qualityand certication standards for coffee and is doing the same for fourother products cacao honey handicrafts and basic grains (principallycorn) Comercio Justo stresses that its system is designed for organizedpeasant producers andmdashunlike international fair trade certiersmdashitdoes not intend to develop a separate lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo for plantationagriculture or wage labor

If building demand for fair trade products in the rich North isa formidable task creating a domestic fair trade market in the ThirdWorld would seem a challenge of Herculean proportions HoweverComercio Justo believes that socially conscious consumerism is not re-stricted to those with discretionary incomeThe group insists that by elim-inating intermediaries fairly traded products can be sold at a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo priceto the producer will be competitive with comparable conventionallyproduced goods and can even help address long-standing complaintsabout the quality of domestic products

The low prices paid to small producers on the national marketmean that the best Mexican products are exported Fair Trademakes it possible for small producers to also receive digniedprices in the national market and to not depend exclusively onexport (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001b)

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 185

The group is already selling fair trade labeled Cafe Fertil in mainstreamsupermarkets and restaurants through contracts with large retailersaccompanied by major promotion and consumer education campaignsa strategy that has been key to the success of fair trade coffee bananasand chocolate in Europe

The development of a Southern national fair trade seal also raisesinteresting issues of power and control within the fair trade movementAt stake here is the very potent question of who is empowered to certifywhom in the international fair trade movement Despite the fact thatSouthern producers do participate as members in some internationalfair trade organizations the agenda priorities and criteria for fairtrade have to date been set in the North (Renard 2003 Raynolds 2000)Other authors also note the lsquolsquoasymmetries of power at work in decidingwhat is fairrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001114) The Mexican fairtrade seal says Comercio Justo constitutes a lsquolsquosocial certicationrsquorsquo withone part of civil society certifyingmdashand regulatingmdashanother part of thesociety As such it enrolls both Southern producers and Southernconsumers in the process of (re)constructing what Renard (1999484)calls fair tradersquos lsquolsquosymbolic social meaningrsquorsquo

Fair Trade Tortillerias

One of the partners in the Comercio Justo Mexico network is ANECthe National Association of Peasant Marketing Enterprises ANECwhich represents small- to medium-sized producers of basic grains in 20of Mexicorsquos 31 states is engaged in a separate but related initiative thatspeaks to a key Mexican grievance over lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquomdashthe majorongoing rural crisis precipitated by the opening of the Mexican marketunder NAFTA Low quality imported corn mainly from the US hasundercut even the most ef cient Mexican producers and contributedto the rural exodus to large cities and to the US The quality of tortillashas declined in tandem (with an increasing proportion of dry cornmeal as opposed to whole-ground corn present in even lsquolsquofreshrsquorsquotortillas) and prices have soared as the last federal subsidies and pricecontrols are eliminated (Suarez 2002)

ANECrsquos vision is ambitious a national chain of tortillerias sellingfresh-ground tortillas made with GMO-free Mexican corn grown by theorganizationrsquos members and certied with the Comercio Justo Mexicoseal As of this writing ANEC has opened three tortillerias and hopes toexpand to 20 states by 2005 and nationwide (via franchises) by 2007Victor Suarez ANECrsquos Executive Director asserts that the seal holdsrelevance for domestic consumers

The fair trade seal plays the role of assuring the buyer that thetortilla has a guarantee in all phases of the process [that it

186 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

In order to receive fair trade certication these production ar-rangements must meet speci ed criteria While various fair trade or-ganizations phrase the standards somewhat differently Table 1 lists themost commonly used criteria drawn from a variety of fair tradeschemata Producers typically must receive a guaranteed minimum orlsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price to cover production costs and protect against market uctuations as well as a lsquolsquosocial premiumrsquorsquo directed to social de-velopment Other criteria include providing credit or partial pay-ment in advance of harvest long-term trading contracts nancialtransparency environmentally-sound practices and increased controlby producers over marketing and production (Fair Trade Federation2000) Fair trade certiers have also developed a second lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo tocertify fairness in crops such as bananas and tea which are producedlargely on plantations by waged workers These standards includepayment of a lsquolsquoliving wagersquorsquo decent working conditions and respect forthe right to join unions (Pruyn 2001) Coffee was the rst fairly tradedfood commodity and remains the most signi cant with 240 producerorganizations now on the international fair trade coffee registerrepresenting 490000 grower families Certication has now expandedto other products including bananas tea sugar cocoa honeypineapples mangoes and orange juice (Theunissen 2002 Rice2001) Worldwide sales of certied fair trade products grew 22 percentin 2001 to reach $235 million bene ting 800000 families Fair tradebananas coffee and chocolate have captured an important share of themarket in several western European nations (FLO 2002a)

However it is not yet clear whether fair trade as currently constitutedcan become more than a marginal alternative and assume a role as a realforce for the reform and even transformation of conventional unequalexchange relationships It is this issue that most concerns DavidGoodman and Michael Goodman in their review of the lsquolsquosocialimaginariesrsquorsquo of organic agriculture eco-labeling and fair trade

Table 1 Most Common Fair Trade Criteria

n Fair prices to producers fair wages to laborers ( oor or minimum priceswages socialdevelopment premium)

n Advance credit or payment to producersn Democratically run producer cooperatives or workplacesn Long-term contracts and trading relationshipsn Environmentally sustainable production practicesn Public accountability and nancial transparencyn Financial and technical assistance to producersn Safe non-exploitative working conditions

(Sources Global Exchange 2002 Equal Exchange 2002 FLO 2002b TransFair USA2002 Fair Trade Federation 2002)

174 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Progressive change requires a lsquolsquosymmetrical socio-ecologicalrsquorsquo concep-tualization of sustainability that facilitates political engagement(Goodman and Goodman 2001115) Yet the current technocentricstandards-based construction of lsquolsquoorganicrsquorsquo and of most eco-labelsignores the social conditions of production and these manifestationsof lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo are coming to approximate conventional agro-foodsystems in their patterns of farm structure labor organization andmarketing (Guthman 2000) In contrast Goodman and Goodman(2001111) nd fair trade labels to be uniquely potent since theyencompass lsquolsquoboth organic production processes and the bundle ofethical labour and commercial practices which encode alternative eco-social production relations into the constitution of these productsrsquorsquoThe fair trade networkrsquos eco-social imaginaries they assert offera deeper richer and more radical promise of transformation

We argue that the bundle of core elements that constitute fair trade arenot found only in the international arrangements to which the term isconventionally applied but can also be applied to the activities of somealternative agro-food networks within the North and within the South Iffair trade can indeed facilitate action at such a distance that it createsa moral and a material connectivity across continents should it not alsofunction similarly across shorter distances If fair trade is so compellingand engaging a discursive construct for socially embedding Dutchconsumer behavior in regard to Mexican coffee might it not functionsimilarly in shaping the choices a Wisconsin consumer makes in buyingcheese or the way a resident of Mexico City decides to purchase tortillas

These questions so far have not been engaged by the literatures oncontemporary agro-food transformations Fair trade has been treated asa special and somewhat idiosyncratic case within the larger set ofalternativesustainable food problematics This is somewhat curioussince the features of fair trade initiatives intersect with the key analyticsof placelocality social embeddedness and quality But studies of theconstruction of short food supply chains in Europe (eg Marsden et al1999 Miele 1999) do not reference the parallel efforts of Third Worldfair trade producers to circumvent intermediaries and jump-start ruraldevelopment Analyses of the social embeddedness associated withalternative and direct marketing of foods have not foregroundedconsiderations of equity even as fair trade coffee is sold at farmersmarkets alongside local produce The intense examination of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquonow under way does not substantively encompass lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo as a meansof framing preferences (Goodman 2003 Winter 2003)

As Whatmore and Thorne note lsquolsquoperformance of lsquofairnessrsquo ratherthan charityrsquorsquo is a powerful means of establishing lsquolsquoconnectivityrsquorsquobetween peasant and indigenous coffee producers in the South and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 175

consumers in the North (1997299) This performance is also at work ina number of initiatives both within the North and within the SouthExploring the construction and deployment of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo on thesemore limited terrains is both theoretically and practically useful and wenow turn our attention in this direction

North-North Initiatives Convergence

One of the de ning features of economic globalization is that it tiestogether the fates of people at opposite corners of the earth in new andcomplex ways In the second of the two quotes that open this article RinkDickinson co-director of Equal Exchange Coffee highlights the simi-larity in the structural position of many farmers in both the North andSouth His comment describes a project called Red Tomato which bringsthe produce of southern small farmers to New England grocery stores

The Equal Exchange warehouse houses organic coffee frompeasant farmers in Oaxaca Mexico It houses watermelonsfrom disadvantaged black farmers from Georgia SouthCarolina and other parts of the south Both the watermelonand the coffee farmers have created co-ops to arrangemarketing and give them a chance against larger growers andprocessors The implications of this convergence between thework of the watermelon farmers peach farmers tea growersand coffee farmers is immense (20002)

In this structural and institutional lsquolsquoconvergencersquorsquo Dickinson explicitlysees an opportunity for lsquolsquobringing fair trade ideals to US farmersrsquorsquo andfor developing fair trade marketing in local regional and nationalcontexts as well as in the international frame

How might we assess Dickinsonrsquos ambition Are there indeed extantor emerging initiatives focused on marketing within in the UnitedStates that might plausibly fall under the rubric of lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo In factthere is a variety of such undertakings in all regions of the country Inorder to provide an empirical platform for further discussion we nowpro le ve of these initiatives with particular attention to the extent towhich these endogenous projects share characteristics commonlyassociated with North-South fair trade (see Table 1)

Red Tomato

Red Tomato is a marketing organization based in Canton Massachusettsthat distributes fresh fruits and vegetables from family farmers to retailsupermarkets food cooperatives and institutions in the Boston areaIf there is one initiative that might be expected to approximate theSouthNorth fair trade model most closely it is Red Tomato The

176 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

project was started in 1997 by Michael Rozyne who had earlier beena founder of Equal Exchange From direct conversations with staff itwas apparent to us that fair trade principles undergird Red Tomatorsquosapproach to facilitating market access for small sustainable farmersBut apart from a commitment to assuring a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo and to theestablishment of lsquolsquolong-term pricing agreementsrsquorsquo these principlesremain largely implicit in the organizationrsquos public face Indeed thewords lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo are almost completely absent from Red Tomatorsquospublic materials and point of sale advertising The only use of the termin its principal brochure comes in a description of its sibling EqualExchange

Dickinson (20002) explicitly outlines the similarities in the roles ofRed Tomato and Equal Exchange

Both groups are committed to connecting consumers tofarmers Both are actively engaged in the marketplace but arenot for pro t maximizing Both Equal Exchange and RedTomato are working with disadvantaged producers and bothare driven by cultures of worker innovation and control

Nevertheless Red Tomato has quite deliberately chosen to frame itspublic message in terms more familiar to North American consumersAccording to its brochure

Red Tomato is a nonpro t marketing organization that helpsfamily farmers survive and helps make sure that local people can nd high-quality affordable local produce (Red Tomato nd)

Rather than the formal certication and labeling characteristic ofSouth-North approaches to fair trade Red Tomato has chosen todevelop a lsquolsquobrandrsquorsquo of its own and that brand image does not include anexplicit fair trade element By way of explanation a Red Tomato staffmember distinguishes between lsquolsquofollowing fair trade principles versuscertifying or using fair trade principles to certifyrsquorsquo She is lsquolsquoverycomfortable saying Red Tomato follows fair trade principlesrsquorsquo but feelsthat many consumers in the United States are not now suf cientlyinformed or well enough developed politically to respond to a formalfair trade campaign focused on domestic produce and Americanfarmers (Red Tomato 2002)

Federation of Southern Cooperatives

Ironically fair trade is foregrounded by the Federation of SouthernCooperatives That organization is partnering with Red Tomato to bringto the New England market the watermelons and other produce grownby African-American family farmers in seven Southeastern states This

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 177

marketing relationship with a democratically run cooperative repre-sents another of the ways in which Red Tomatorsquos practices correspondto those found in South-North fair trading arrangements But whereRed Tomato prefers to accent the family farmlocalistenvironmentaldimensions of its product line the Federation of Southern Coopera-tives makes an unambiguous effort to deploy the moral charge of fairtrade in its outreach A Federation press release (20001) describing therelationship with Red Tomato is headlined lsquolsquoFederationLAF Engagedin lsquoFair Tradersquo Practices to Serve Family Farmers and Customersrsquorsquo andstates

Our goal at the FederationLAF is to make sure farmers aretreated fairly in the marketplace We want lsquofair tradersquo forfarmersmdashone that rst considers the farmerrsquos costs and pro t[ ] we hope it will serve as a model for family farmers acrossthe country

The FederationRed Tomato project directly addresses concernsfamiliar to the Latin American and African coffee farmers with whomEqual Exchange is accustomed to dealing the power of distributors andretailers the desire for collective action by producers and for closerlinkages with consumers the need for long-term contracts and ofcourse for a fair price

The FederationLAF rst asked the farmers what they consid-ered to be a fair price for their watermelon Once that wasdetermined all their costs were factored in above the farmerrsquosprice such as transportation and other overhead costs The FairTrade model considers the farmer rst and foremost and byeliminating the lsquolsquomiddlemanrsquorsquo the consumers also have a moredirect relationship with farmers which is a win-win situation forall concerned (Federation of Southern Cooperatives 20001)

The Federation then clearly sees the lsquolsquoconvergencersquorsquo referred to byDickinson and appreciates the potential of domestic fair trade directlymobilizing the language of fair trade to illustrate both the disadvan-tages its members face and the route to improving their situation

Family Farmer Cheese

Family Farmer Cheese is a joint project of the Wisconsin-based dairyfarm advocacy group Family Farm Defenders (FFD) and a cheesemanufacturer Cedar Grove Cheese Founded in the 1970s FFD haslong been actively involved in struggles to reform federal milkmarketing regulations and pricing policies oppose the new biotech-nologies and counter agribusiness consolidation Recognizing that

178 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

efforts to in uence federal legislation were important but slow theorganization sought ways to keep small dairy farmers in business in theshort run Family Farm Defendersrsquo leadership met with a localcheesemaker whose small family-owned factory was one of the fewsurviving facilities in what had once been a thriving regional industryAccording to FFD founder Francis Goodman lsquolsquoWe decided to marketa cheese brand based on a fair relationship between trading partnersproviding consumers an opportunity to vote for family dairy farms withtheir food dollars and providing family dairy farmers nancial securityrsquorsquo(Leinberger 19991)

The critical foundations of the Family Farmer Cheese initiative area guaranteed price for milk and a label All cheese sold under theFamily Farmer Cheese label is purchased from farmers at $16 perhundredweight (the market price at the time of writing is around the $9level) Milk is purchased from individual farmers and from the ScenicCentral Milk Producers Co-op another project of FFD Farmers sellingto the project must agree not to use recombinant bovine growthhormone to use sustainable methods of farming and to care foranimals in a humane way Family Farm Defenders and Cedar Grovecheese share marketing and distribution responsibilities and thecheese can be purchased by mail and through retail food cooperativesand natural foods stores throughout southern Wisconsin

The capacity to pay a fair price to farmers ultimately depends on thewillingness of consumers to pay a premium price for the cheese at retailoutlets This willingness is engendered by the cheesersquos distinctive labeland by other educational and outreach materials The FamilyFarmer Cheese label does not refer to fair trade or even fairness Itis distinctive however in its linking of farmers consumers and processor

Family Farm Defenders is a non-pro t organization composedof small family farmers and concerned consumers By choosingFamily Farmer brand you become part of an alliance workingtoward a safe sustainable food production system Our milkcomes from small dairy farmers who use no arti cial growthhormones (Family Farmer Cheese 2000)

Family Farm Defenders is comprised of non-farm citizens as well asfarmers and the organization takes a more systemic perspective than iscommonly encountered in alternative food initiatives Family FarmDefendersrsquo mission statement emphasizes not the virtues of localconsumption but the possibilities inherent in mobilization fordemocratic practice

We adhere to the principle of democracy by empoweringfarmers to speak for and represent themselves in the quest for

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 179

economic justice and responsible sustainable agriculturalpolicies the Family Farm Defenders is dedicated to speakingout against all the forces threatening the long-term survival ofrural America and to preserving a diverse safe and wholesomefood supply at an affordable price for consumers (Family FarmDefenders nd)

Midwest Food Alliance

The initiative that most closely resembles the characteristic criteria-certication-labeling arrangement of international (South-North) fairtrade may be that of the Midwest Food Alliance The Alliance hasestablished a set of lsquolsquoGuiding Principlesrsquorsquo which it uses as a frameworkfor formal third party certication of producers of meat freshvegetables and fruits Farm operations that conform to the guidingprinciples may use the lsquolsquoMidwest Food Alliance Approvedrsquorsquo seal tomarket their products The Alliance is engaged in an extensive programof consumer outreach and education as it attempts to make a placefor Alliance-labeled products in supermarkets in the Minneapolis-St Paul area

Though the superstructure of the Alliance program is similar to thelsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo fair trade model certain core elements of that paradigmare missing That the organizationrsquos literature and web site make noreference at all to lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is not necessarily surprising given thelack of engagement of all the US projects with that particularterminology But the Midwest Food Alliance also avoids an appeal to theneed for a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo or to the survival of small farmers Indeed inAlliance materials it is even dif cult to nd use of the term lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo so liberally deployed by the other initiatives we have reviewedNot only does the Midwest Food Alliance use the unquali ed termlsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo it also focuses more attention on the sustainability ofparticular production practices than on the survivability of particularkinds of farmers Farms should be lsquolsquopro tablersquorsquo but that pro tability isunderstood and presented by the Alliance as a function of effectivepresence in the marketplace and in the demands of consumers and notas an ethical or rights-based claim to a particular price While theproject works hard to create market access for the farmers they certifythe Alliance provides no oor price long-term contracts advancepayment or credit

The Midwest Food alliance is considerably less lsquolsquofarm-centricrsquorsquo thanthe other initiatives pro led here And paradoxically perhaps becauseof that orientation the project nds it appropriate to include theinterests of labor and the wider community in the guiding principles

180 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

which shape its certication process In addition to eight principlesrelating to agronomic and conservation practices farmers certi ed bythe Alliance must adhere to the following social axiom

Providing safe and fair working conditions for our employeesand our families For example we develop farm policies inorder to establish open channels for communicating workplacesafety and satisfaction We incorporate quality of life issuesinto our daily decision making process for ourselves ourfamilies our employees and our broader communities (Mid-west Food Alliance nd)

Without seeing the individual farm plans that must be drawn up forcerti ers it is dif cult to know how such generalities translate intoconcrete actions Still inclusion of what the Alliance calls lsquolsquohumanresource developmentrsquorsquo in its criteria is an important step towarda version of North-North fair trade that envisions justice for socialsectors beyond the lsquolsquofamily farmrsquorsquo

UFW Fair Trade Apple Campaign

If the Midwest Food Alliance has begun to address the interests andconcerns of agricultural workers the Fair Trade Apple Campaign of theUnited Farm Workers (UFW) union actually privileges labor as theprojectrsquos point of departure The UFW is well known for its efforts onbehalf of farm workersmdashparticularly the California grape boycottsmdashand has long sought to connect consumers to workersrsquo struggle for justtreatment in the nationrsquos fruit and vegetable elds The UFWrsquos base inLatino farmworker communities and its involvement in cross-borderlabor solidarity give the term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo an appealing resonance forthe UFW and the organization is explicit in terming its nascentinitiative the lsquolsquoWashington Fair Trade Apple Campaign (WAFTA)rsquorsquo

The apple industry is a highly globalized market Imported applesfrom Chile New Zealand and South Africa now compete intensely withthose grown in Washington and other states Washingtonrsquos familygrowers still the large majority of apple farmers are besieged bya combination of forces Consolidation in packing and distributionretail sourcing practices favoring the largest growers and delays of 12 to18 months in payment for their fruit have eroded growersrsquo market powerand pushed them into debilitating debt cycles (Jarosz and Qazi 20005ndash6Gamboa 2002) Growers receive only 11 percent of what consumers payat retail even though the retail pro t margin on apples is 32 percenthigher than for virtually any other grocery item (UFW 2001)

Squeezed from above small family apple growers often pass the painon to their workforce The statersquos apple workersmdashover 80 percent of

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 181

Mexican origin and often undocumentedmdashtake home an averageyearly salary of $7654 far below the poverty line (Jarosz and Qazi 2000BCGEU 2001) In both orchards and packing houses unions say thatworkers face discrimination are denied the right to organize andbargain collectively and do not enjoy health and safety protectionsguaranteed by state law (UFW 2001) Indeed the Washington appleindustry today remains 100 percent non-union (Gamboa 2002) Ratherthan focus their attention solely on laborrsquos immediate employersunions hoping to organize apple workers identify the structuraldynamics hurting both growers and workers

The US agricultural community grew and prospered on thevalues of a lsquolsquofair returnrsquorsquo for those who risk the most and a lsquolsquodecentwagersquorsquo for a hard dayrsquos work Todayrsquos new global economythreatens to erode these values even further The apple industryis unfair Smaller family-owned farms are going bankruptbecause corporations pay less per box than it costs growers tocultivate and harvest their crops (BCGEU 2001)

Accordingly the UFW is launching its Washington Fair Trade AppleCampaign as an lsquolsquoeconomic collaborationrsquorsquo with family growers andgrower collectives that lsquolsquouses consumer pressure on retailers to paygrowers more for their fruitrsquorsquo (BCGEU 2001) Having identied thegrowersrsquo entrapment in a cost-price squeeze as the root cause ofworkersrsquo problems the union hopes that rather than pitting growersagainst labor both will gain if family apple farmers were to receive a fairprice Guadalupe Gamboa the UFWrsquos National Vice President anddirector of the apple campaign insists that workersrsquo resentment fortheir poor conditions is not directed principally at family growers

[It] is mainly against the packers the companies who are theworst abusers of workers The problem in the past is that familygrowers have identied with the big companies Wersquore trying tobreak that by showing them that theyrsquore more like the workersbecause they donrsquot have any say in the price they get (2002)

The fair trade apple campaign will label apples produced under thisgrower-worker collaboration with the UFWrsquos black eagle symbol(Paynter 2001) The seal will be conditioned upon growersrsquo enteringinto collective bargaining agreements with the UFW guaranteeingbetter wages health and safety guarantees and respect for basic laborlaws (eg workers compensation) In return the union hopes to offersmall growers volume buying long-term contracts and better and moreconsistent prices by bypassing distributors and negotiating directly withmajor grocery chains interested in the seal The fruit will initially besold in the largest west coast citiesmdashincluding Seattle Sacramento

182 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

San Francisco and Los Angelesmdashviewed by the union as lsquolsquosolidaritymarketsrsquorsquo (Gamboa 2002) where recognition of the UFW and sympathyfor farmworker issues run high

Rather than setting a minimum lsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price as in fair trade coffeethe fair trade apple initiative centers upon a living wage and respect forlabor rights much like the lsquolsquoplantation modalityrsquorsquo of the internationalfair trade movement The UFW is asserting that such rights are centralto the trading equation The union draws parallels between fair tradeapples fairly traded coffee and international anti-sweatshop campaignsall of which seek to reform lsquolsquounjustrsquorsquo practices in their respective in-dustries through consumer education and pressure

South-South Initiatives Inclusion

A key question in realizing the promise of fair trade initiatives togenerate greater social equity and justice is their inclusiveness If accessto fair trade markets is constrained by entry barriers such as qualitystandards or competition between producer groups for limited marketdemand the movementrsquos transformative potential will be limitedGoodman and Goodman (2001115) frame clearly the challenge posedby the quality issue

while fair trade organic has opened up lsquolsquospaces of inclusionrsquorsquofor small-scale producers the dictates of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquo act as anexclusionary force at odds with the relational ethic of themovement Many producers typically the poorest in bothresources and natural endowments even if they can meet thecosts of organic certication may be excluded from thenetwork because of the strict quality standards imposed byimporters and suppliers

In addition producing for high-value global niche markets bringsboth opportunities and a new set of demands and complexities for ruralproducers (Ericson 1999) These markets with their concomitantdemands for product consistency quantity quality and timely deliveryand pressures to adapt to ckle consumer tastes and styles can posethreats to community well-being and cohesion particularly in highlytraditional and indigenous communities

The potential for exclusion assert Goodman and Goodman (2001115) extends to the sites of consumption as well as production

the premium attached to fair trade organic [products]makes them high-priced luxury items out of reach of theeveryday purchases of lower-income consumers Nor is theremuch consumption of these products in either the local orregional Southern contexts of their production [ ] new

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 183

institutional mechanisms will be needed to promote moresocially inclusive patterns of sustainable consumption

However there are emerging fair trade initiatives located within theglobal South that provide provocative responses to these very problemsand pose a challenge both to the conceptualization of socially consciousconsumerism and to the balance of power within the fair trademovement Some of the most promising of these initiatives are takingplace in Mexico and we turn now to examining two of them

Comercio Justo Mexico

Mexico was the birthplace of the international fair trade movement in itscurrent form The original fair trade sealmdashMax Havelaarmdashwas created inresponse to the request of organized Mexican coffee producers foraccess on equitable terms and in signi cant quantities to Europeanmarkets For the rst time lsquolsquofairly-producedrsquorsquo commodities were tradedwith suf cient volume to generate real social bene ts for small farmersUnder these fair trade arrangements some coffee and honey producerassociations have realized improvements in social and economicconditions for their families and communities (Pruyn 2001)

However it has become clear that international fair trade sales are notand will not become a panacea even for coffee growers Despite Mexicorsquosstatus as the worldrsquos largest exporter of fair trade coffee (Raynolds 2000)international consumer demand remains far below supply and not allcommunities can afford organic certication or are appropriatelylocated to produce quality high-grown arabica coffeemdashboth virtuallyrequirements to enter the Northern fair trade market Other productssuch as bananas cacao and orange juice are in the very early stages of fairtrade market development The vast majority of peasant farmersmoreover are not even geographically situated to grow these potentiallyhigh-value crops

Mexican civil society groups and organized producer groups came torealize that even with enormous growth fair trade exports could neverconstitute a major development solution in and of themselves Forall but a few of the best organized coffee cooperatives for exampleNorthern fair trade markets represent only a small fraction of theirsales and at best a modest additional increment to producersrsquo incomes

In response these organizations formed Comercio Justo Mexico (FairTrade Mexico) in 1999 with a vision of building a domestic fair trademarket The organization has developed a Mexican fair trade label whichmade its debut in 2001 and is the rst such seal in a Southern nation

[T]hese Mexican small producers do not only sell their goodson the international fair trade market A signi cant part of

184 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

their production continues to be sold in the domestic marketwhich is equally plagued by destructive intermediarism Thesmall producers need our nationrsquos internal market to generatemore just trading relations and they need consumers torecognize their products The lsquolsquoFair Trade Seal of Mexicorsquorsquomakes it possible for these small producers to distinguish theirproducts and allows the consumer to have trust thatmdashwiththeir purchasemdashthey are helping the Mexican farmers most inneed (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001a)

This comprehensive initiative is composed of three separate entitiesComercio Justo Mexico AC (Fair Trade Mexico) is a promotional andeducational group that combines several civil society development NGOsand peasant producer organizations Agromercados SA (Agromarkets)is a marketing body for fair trade products owned by the small producermember organizations (of each speci c product) themselves AndCertimex an independent Mexican organic certier is responsible formonitoring adherence to fair trade criteria Agromercados is establish-ing a chain of coffee shops in numerous cities to promote the sale oforganic and fair trade coffee and has created a single domestic fair tradecoffee brand label (Cafe Fertil) for all its small coffee producer members

With direct participation from grassroots producer groups and civilsociety organizations Comercio Justo has developed a set of general fairtrade criteria based on international standards as well as speci c qualityand certication standards for coffee and is doing the same for fourother products cacao honey handicrafts and basic grains (principallycorn) Comercio Justo stresses that its system is designed for organizedpeasant producers andmdashunlike international fair trade certiersmdashitdoes not intend to develop a separate lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo for plantationagriculture or wage labor

If building demand for fair trade products in the rich North isa formidable task creating a domestic fair trade market in the ThirdWorld would seem a challenge of Herculean proportions HoweverComercio Justo believes that socially conscious consumerism is not re-stricted to those with discretionary incomeThe group insists that by elim-inating intermediaries fairly traded products can be sold at a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo priceto the producer will be competitive with comparable conventionallyproduced goods and can even help address long-standing complaintsabout the quality of domestic products

The low prices paid to small producers on the national marketmean that the best Mexican products are exported Fair Trademakes it possible for small producers to also receive digniedprices in the national market and to not depend exclusively onexport (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001b)

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 185

The group is already selling fair trade labeled Cafe Fertil in mainstreamsupermarkets and restaurants through contracts with large retailersaccompanied by major promotion and consumer education campaignsa strategy that has been key to the success of fair trade coffee bananasand chocolate in Europe

The development of a Southern national fair trade seal also raisesinteresting issues of power and control within the fair trade movementAt stake here is the very potent question of who is empowered to certifywhom in the international fair trade movement Despite the fact thatSouthern producers do participate as members in some internationalfair trade organizations the agenda priorities and criteria for fairtrade have to date been set in the North (Renard 2003 Raynolds 2000)Other authors also note the lsquolsquoasymmetries of power at work in decidingwhat is fairrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001114) The Mexican fairtrade seal says Comercio Justo constitutes a lsquolsquosocial certicationrsquorsquo withone part of civil society certifyingmdashand regulatingmdashanother part of thesociety As such it enrolls both Southern producers and Southernconsumers in the process of (re)constructing what Renard (1999484)calls fair tradersquos lsquolsquosymbolic social meaningrsquorsquo

Fair Trade Tortillerias

One of the partners in the Comercio Justo Mexico network is ANECthe National Association of Peasant Marketing Enterprises ANECwhich represents small- to medium-sized producers of basic grains in 20of Mexicorsquos 31 states is engaged in a separate but related initiative thatspeaks to a key Mexican grievance over lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquomdashthe majorongoing rural crisis precipitated by the opening of the Mexican marketunder NAFTA Low quality imported corn mainly from the US hasundercut even the most ef cient Mexican producers and contributedto the rural exodus to large cities and to the US The quality of tortillashas declined in tandem (with an increasing proportion of dry cornmeal as opposed to whole-ground corn present in even lsquolsquofreshrsquorsquotortillas) and prices have soared as the last federal subsidies and pricecontrols are eliminated (Suarez 2002)

ANECrsquos vision is ambitious a national chain of tortillerias sellingfresh-ground tortillas made with GMO-free Mexican corn grown by theorganizationrsquos members and certied with the Comercio Justo Mexicoseal As of this writing ANEC has opened three tortillerias and hopes toexpand to 20 states by 2005 and nationwide (via franchises) by 2007Victor Suarez ANECrsquos Executive Director asserts that the seal holdsrelevance for domestic consumers

The fair trade seal plays the role of assuring the buyer that thetortilla has a guarantee in all phases of the process [that it

186 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Progressive change requires a lsquolsquosymmetrical socio-ecologicalrsquorsquo concep-tualization of sustainability that facilitates political engagement(Goodman and Goodman 2001115) Yet the current technocentricstandards-based construction of lsquolsquoorganicrsquorsquo and of most eco-labelsignores the social conditions of production and these manifestationsof lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo are coming to approximate conventional agro-foodsystems in their patterns of farm structure labor organization andmarketing (Guthman 2000) In contrast Goodman and Goodman(2001111) nd fair trade labels to be uniquely potent since theyencompass lsquolsquoboth organic production processes and the bundle ofethical labour and commercial practices which encode alternative eco-social production relations into the constitution of these productsrsquorsquoThe fair trade networkrsquos eco-social imaginaries they assert offera deeper richer and more radical promise of transformation

We argue that the bundle of core elements that constitute fair trade arenot found only in the international arrangements to which the term isconventionally applied but can also be applied to the activities of somealternative agro-food networks within the North and within the South Iffair trade can indeed facilitate action at such a distance that it createsa moral and a material connectivity across continents should it not alsofunction similarly across shorter distances If fair trade is so compellingand engaging a discursive construct for socially embedding Dutchconsumer behavior in regard to Mexican coffee might it not functionsimilarly in shaping the choices a Wisconsin consumer makes in buyingcheese or the way a resident of Mexico City decides to purchase tortillas

These questions so far have not been engaged by the literatures oncontemporary agro-food transformations Fair trade has been treated asa special and somewhat idiosyncratic case within the larger set ofalternativesustainable food problematics This is somewhat curioussince the features of fair trade initiatives intersect with the key analyticsof placelocality social embeddedness and quality But studies of theconstruction of short food supply chains in Europe (eg Marsden et al1999 Miele 1999) do not reference the parallel efforts of Third Worldfair trade producers to circumvent intermediaries and jump-start ruraldevelopment Analyses of the social embeddedness associated withalternative and direct marketing of foods have not foregroundedconsiderations of equity even as fair trade coffee is sold at farmersmarkets alongside local produce The intense examination of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquonow under way does not substantively encompass lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo as a meansof framing preferences (Goodman 2003 Winter 2003)

As Whatmore and Thorne note lsquolsquoperformance of lsquofairnessrsquo ratherthan charityrsquorsquo is a powerful means of establishing lsquolsquoconnectivityrsquorsquobetween peasant and indigenous coffee producers in the South and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 175

consumers in the North (1997299) This performance is also at work ina number of initiatives both within the North and within the SouthExploring the construction and deployment of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo on thesemore limited terrains is both theoretically and practically useful and wenow turn our attention in this direction

North-North Initiatives Convergence

One of the de ning features of economic globalization is that it tiestogether the fates of people at opposite corners of the earth in new andcomplex ways In the second of the two quotes that open this article RinkDickinson co-director of Equal Exchange Coffee highlights the simi-larity in the structural position of many farmers in both the North andSouth His comment describes a project called Red Tomato which bringsthe produce of southern small farmers to New England grocery stores

The Equal Exchange warehouse houses organic coffee frompeasant farmers in Oaxaca Mexico It houses watermelonsfrom disadvantaged black farmers from Georgia SouthCarolina and other parts of the south Both the watermelonand the coffee farmers have created co-ops to arrangemarketing and give them a chance against larger growers andprocessors The implications of this convergence between thework of the watermelon farmers peach farmers tea growersand coffee farmers is immense (20002)

In this structural and institutional lsquolsquoconvergencersquorsquo Dickinson explicitlysees an opportunity for lsquolsquobringing fair trade ideals to US farmersrsquorsquo andfor developing fair trade marketing in local regional and nationalcontexts as well as in the international frame

How might we assess Dickinsonrsquos ambition Are there indeed extantor emerging initiatives focused on marketing within in the UnitedStates that might plausibly fall under the rubric of lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo In factthere is a variety of such undertakings in all regions of the country Inorder to provide an empirical platform for further discussion we nowpro le ve of these initiatives with particular attention to the extent towhich these endogenous projects share characteristics commonlyassociated with North-South fair trade (see Table 1)

Red Tomato

Red Tomato is a marketing organization based in Canton Massachusettsthat distributes fresh fruits and vegetables from family farmers to retailsupermarkets food cooperatives and institutions in the Boston areaIf there is one initiative that might be expected to approximate theSouthNorth fair trade model most closely it is Red Tomato The

176 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

project was started in 1997 by Michael Rozyne who had earlier beena founder of Equal Exchange From direct conversations with staff itwas apparent to us that fair trade principles undergird Red Tomatorsquosapproach to facilitating market access for small sustainable farmersBut apart from a commitment to assuring a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo and to theestablishment of lsquolsquolong-term pricing agreementsrsquorsquo these principlesremain largely implicit in the organizationrsquos public face Indeed thewords lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo are almost completely absent from Red Tomatorsquospublic materials and point of sale advertising The only use of the termin its principal brochure comes in a description of its sibling EqualExchange

Dickinson (20002) explicitly outlines the similarities in the roles ofRed Tomato and Equal Exchange

Both groups are committed to connecting consumers tofarmers Both are actively engaged in the marketplace but arenot for pro t maximizing Both Equal Exchange and RedTomato are working with disadvantaged producers and bothare driven by cultures of worker innovation and control

Nevertheless Red Tomato has quite deliberately chosen to frame itspublic message in terms more familiar to North American consumersAccording to its brochure

Red Tomato is a nonpro t marketing organization that helpsfamily farmers survive and helps make sure that local people can nd high-quality affordable local produce (Red Tomato nd)

Rather than the formal certication and labeling characteristic ofSouth-North approaches to fair trade Red Tomato has chosen todevelop a lsquolsquobrandrsquorsquo of its own and that brand image does not include anexplicit fair trade element By way of explanation a Red Tomato staffmember distinguishes between lsquolsquofollowing fair trade principles versuscertifying or using fair trade principles to certifyrsquorsquo She is lsquolsquoverycomfortable saying Red Tomato follows fair trade principlesrsquorsquo but feelsthat many consumers in the United States are not now suf cientlyinformed or well enough developed politically to respond to a formalfair trade campaign focused on domestic produce and Americanfarmers (Red Tomato 2002)

Federation of Southern Cooperatives

Ironically fair trade is foregrounded by the Federation of SouthernCooperatives That organization is partnering with Red Tomato to bringto the New England market the watermelons and other produce grownby African-American family farmers in seven Southeastern states This

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 177

marketing relationship with a democratically run cooperative repre-sents another of the ways in which Red Tomatorsquos practices correspondto those found in South-North fair trading arrangements But whereRed Tomato prefers to accent the family farmlocalistenvironmentaldimensions of its product line the Federation of Southern Coopera-tives makes an unambiguous effort to deploy the moral charge of fairtrade in its outreach A Federation press release (20001) describing therelationship with Red Tomato is headlined lsquolsquoFederationLAF Engagedin lsquoFair Tradersquo Practices to Serve Family Farmers and Customersrsquorsquo andstates

Our goal at the FederationLAF is to make sure farmers aretreated fairly in the marketplace We want lsquofair tradersquo forfarmersmdashone that rst considers the farmerrsquos costs and pro t[ ] we hope it will serve as a model for family farmers acrossthe country

The FederationRed Tomato project directly addresses concernsfamiliar to the Latin American and African coffee farmers with whomEqual Exchange is accustomed to dealing the power of distributors andretailers the desire for collective action by producers and for closerlinkages with consumers the need for long-term contracts and ofcourse for a fair price

The FederationLAF rst asked the farmers what they consid-ered to be a fair price for their watermelon Once that wasdetermined all their costs were factored in above the farmerrsquosprice such as transportation and other overhead costs The FairTrade model considers the farmer rst and foremost and byeliminating the lsquolsquomiddlemanrsquorsquo the consumers also have a moredirect relationship with farmers which is a win-win situation forall concerned (Federation of Southern Cooperatives 20001)

The Federation then clearly sees the lsquolsquoconvergencersquorsquo referred to byDickinson and appreciates the potential of domestic fair trade directlymobilizing the language of fair trade to illustrate both the disadvan-tages its members face and the route to improving their situation

Family Farmer Cheese

Family Farmer Cheese is a joint project of the Wisconsin-based dairyfarm advocacy group Family Farm Defenders (FFD) and a cheesemanufacturer Cedar Grove Cheese Founded in the 1970s FFD haslong been actively involved in struggles to reform federal milkmarketing regulations and pricing policies oppose the new biotech-nologies and counter agribusiness consolidation Recognizing that

178 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

efforts to in uence federal legislation were important but slow theorganization sought ways to keep small dairy farmers in business in theshort run Family Farm Defendersrsquo leadership met with a localcheesemaker whose small family-owned factory was one of the fewsurviving facilities in what had once been a thriving regional industryAccording to FFD founder Francis Goodman lsquolsquoWe decided to marketa cheese brand based on a fair relationship between trading partnersproviding consumers an opportunity to vote for family dairy farms withtheir food dollars and providing family dairy farmers nancial securityrsquorsquo(Leinberger 19991)

The critical foundations of the Family Farmer Cheese initiative area guaranteed price for milk and a label All cheese sold under theFamily Farmer Cheese label is purchased from farmers at $16 perhundredweight (the market price at the time of writing is around the $9level) Milk is purchased from individual farmers and from the ScenicCentral Milk Producers Co-op another project of FFD Farmers sellingto the project must agree not to use recombinant bovine growthhormone to use sustainable methods of farming and to care foranimals in a humane way Family Farm Defenders and Cedar Grovecheese share marketing and distribution responsibilities and thecheese can be purchased by mail and through retail food cooperativesand natural foods stores throughout southern Wisconsin

The capacity to pay a fair price to farmers ultimately depends on thewillingness of consumers to pay a premium price for the cheese at retailoutlets This willingness is engendered by the cheesersquos distinctive labeland by other educational and outreach materials The FamilyFarmer Cheese label does not refer to fair trade or even fairness Itis distinctive however in its linking of farmers consumers and processor

Family Farm Defenders is a non-pro t organization composedof small family farmers and concerned consumers By choosingFamily Farmer brand you become part of an alliance workingtoward a safe sustainable food production system Our milkcomes from small dairy farmers who use no arti cial growthhormones (Family Farmer Cheese 2000)

Family Farm Defenders is comprised of non-farm citizens as well asfarmers and the organization takes a more systemic perspective than iscommonly encountered in alternative food initiatives Family FarmDefendersrsquo mission statement emphasizes not the virtues of localconsumption but the possibilities inherent in mobilization fordemocratic practice

We adhere to the principle of democracy by empoweringfarmers to speak for and represent themselves in the quest for

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 179

economic justice and responsible sustainable agriculturalpolicies the Family Farm Defenders is dedicated to speakingout against all the forces threatening the long-term survival ofrural America and to preserving a diverse safe and wholesomefood supply at an affordable price for consumers (Family FarmDefenders nd)

Midwest Food Alliance

The initiative that most closely resembles the characteristic criteria-certication-labeling arrangement of international (South-North) fairtrade may be that of the Midwest Food Alliance The Alliance hasestablished a set of lsquolsquoGuiding Principlesrsquorsquo which it uses as a frameworkfor formal third party certication of producers of meat freshvegetables and fruits Farm operations that conform to the guidingprinciples may use the lsquolsquoMidwest Food Alliance Approvedrsquorsquo seal tomarket their products The Alliance is engaged in an extensive programof consumer outreach and education as it attempts to make a placefor Alliance-labeled products in supermarkets in the Minneapolis-St Paul area

Though the superstructure of the Alliance program is similar to thelsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo fair trade model certain core elements of that paradigmare missing That the organizationrsquos literature and web site make noreference at all to lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is not necessarily surprising given thelack of engagement of all the US projects with that particularterminology But the Midwest Food Alliance also avoids an appeal to theneed for a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo or to the survival of small farmers Indeed inAlliance materials it is even dif cult to nd use of the term lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo so liberally deployed by the other initiatives we have reviewedNot only does the Midwest Food Alliance use the unquali ed termlsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo it also focuses more attention on the sustainability ofparticular production practices than on the survivability of particularkinds of farmers Farms should be lsquolsquopro tablersquorsquo but that pro tability isunderstood and presented by the Alliance as a function of effectivepresence in the marketplace and in the demands of consumers and notas an ethical or rights-based claim to a particular price While theproject works hard to create market access for the farmers they certifythe Alliance provides no oor price long-term contracts advancepayment or credit

The Midwest Food alliance is considerably less lsquolsquofarm-centricrsquorsquo thanthe other initiatives pro led here And paradoxically perhaps becauseof that orientation the project nds it appropriate to include theinterests of labor and the wider community in the guiding principles

180 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

which shape its certication process In addition to eight principlesrelating to agronomic and conservation practices farmers certi ed bythe Alliance must adhere to the following social axiom

Providing safe and fair working conditions for our employeesand our families For example we develop farm policies inorder to establish open channels for communicating workplacesafety and satisfaction We incorporate quality of life issuesinto our daily decision making process for ourselves ourfamilies our employees and our broader communities (Mid-west Food Alliance nd)

Without seeing the individual farm plans that must be drawn up forcerti ers it is dif cult to know how such generalities translate intoconcrete actions Still inclusion of what the Alliance calls lsquolsquohumanresource developmentrsquorsquo in its criteria is an important step towarda version of North-North fair trade that envisions justice for socialsectors beyond the lsquolsquofamily farmrsquorsquo

UFW Fair Trade Apple Campaign

If the Midwest Food Alliance has begun to address the interests andconcerns of agricultural workers the Fair Trade Apple Campaign of theUnited Farm Workers (UFW) union actually privileges labor as theprojectrsquos point of departure The UFW is well known for its efforts onbehalf of farm workersmdashparticularly the California grape boycottsmdashand has long sought to connect consumers to workersrsquo struggle for justtreatment in the nationrsquos fruit and vegetable elds The UFWrsquos base inLatino farmworker communities and its involvement in cross-borderlabor solidarity give the term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo an appealing resonance forthe UFW and the organization is explicit in terming its nascentinitiative the lsquolsquoWashington Fair Trade Apple Campaign (WAFTA)rsquorsquo

The apple industry is a highly globalized market Imported applesfrom Chile New Zealand and South Africa now compete intensely withthose grown in Washington and other states Washingtonrsquos familygrowers still the large majority of apple farmers are besieged bya combination of forces Consolidation in packing and distributionretail sourcing practices favoring the largest growers and delays of 12 to18 months in payment for their fruit have eroded growersrsquo market powerand pushed them into debilitating debt cycles (Jarosz and Qazi 20005ndash6Gamboa 2002) Growers receive only 11 percent of what consumers payat retail even though the retail pro t margin on apples is 32 percenthigher than for virtually any other grocery item (UFW 2001)

Squeezed from above small family apple growers often pass the painon to their workforce The statersquos apple workersmdashover 80 percent of

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 181

Mexican origin and often undocumentedmdashtake home an averageyearly salary of $7654 far below the poverty line (Jarosz and Qazi 2000BCGEU 2001) In both orchards and packing houses unions say thatworkers face discrimination are denied the right to organize andbargain collectively and do not enjoy health and safety protectionsguaranteed by state law (UFW 2001) Indeed the Washington appleindustry today remains 100 percent non-union (Gamboa 2002) Ratherthan focus their attention solely on laborrsquos immediate employersunions hoping to organize apple workers identify the structuraldynamics hurting both growers and workers

The US agricultural community grew and prospered on thevalues of a lsquolsquofair returnrsquorsquo for those who risk the most and a lsquolsquodecentwagersquorsquo for a hard dayrsquos work Todayrsquos new global economythreatens to erode these values even further The apple industryis unfair Smaller family-owned farms are going bankruptbecause corporations pay less per box than it costs growers tocultivate and harvest their crops (BCGEU 2001)

Accordingly the UFW is launching its Washington Fair Trade AppleCampaign as an lsquolsquoeconomic collaborationrsquorsquo with family growers andgrower collectives that lsquolsquouses consumer pressure on retailers to paygrowers more for their fruitrsquorsquo (BCGEU 2001) Having identied thegrowersrsquo entrapment in a cost-price squeeze as the root cause ofworkersrsquo problems the union hopes that rather than pitting growersagainst labor both will gain if family apple farmers were to receive a fairprice Guadalupe Gamboa the UFWrsquos National Vice President anddirector of the apple campaign insists that workersrsquo resentment fortheir poor conditions is not directed principally at family growers

[It] is mainly against the packers the companies who are theworst abusers of workers The problem in the past is that familygrowers have identied with the big companies Wersquore trying tobreak that by showing them that theyrsquore more like the workersbecause they donrsquot have any say in the price they get (2002)

The fair trade apple campaign will label apples produced under thisgrower-worker collaboration with the UFWrsquos black eagle symbol(Paynter 2001) The seal will be conditioned upon growersrsquo enteringinto collective bargaining agreements with the UFW guaranteeingbetter wages health and safety guarantees and respect for basic laborlaws (eg workers compensation) In return the union hopes to offersmall growers volume buying long-term contracts and better and moreconsistent prices by bypassing distributors and negotiating directly withmajor grocery chains interested in the seal The fruit will initially besold in the largest west coast citiesmdashincluding Seattle Sacramento

182 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

San Francisco and Los Angelesmdashviewed by the union as lsquolsquosolidaritymarketsrsquorsquo (Gamboa 2002) where recognition of the UFW and sympathyfor farmworker issues run high

Rather than setting a minimum lsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price as in fair trade coffeethe fair trade apple initiative centers upon a living wage and respect forlabor rights much like the lsquolsquoplantation modalityrsquorsquo of the internationalfair trade movement The UFW is asserting that such rights are centralto the trading equation The union draws parallels between fair tradeapples fairly traded coffee and international anti-sweatshop campaignsall of which seek to reform lsquolsquounjustrsquorsquo practices in their respective in-dustries through consumer education and pressure

South-South Initiatives Inclusion

A key question in realizing the promise of fair trade initiatives togenerate greater social equity and justice is their inclusiveness If accessto fair trade markets is constrained by entry barriers such as qualitystandards or competition between producer groups for limited marketdemand the movementrsquos transformative potential will be limitedGoodman and Goodman (2001115) frame clearly the challenge posedby the quality issue

while fair trade organic has opened up lsquolsquospaces of inclusionrsquorsquofor small-scale producers the dictates of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquo act as anexclusionary force at odds with the relational ethic of themovement Many producers typically the poorest in bothresources and natural endowments even if they can meet thecosts of organic certication may be excluded from thenetwork because of the strict quality standards imposed byimporters and suppliers

In addition producing for high-value global niche markets bringsboth opportunities and a new set of demands and complexities for ruralproducers (Ericson 1999) These markets with their concomitantdemands for product consistency quantity quality and timely deliveryand pressures to adapt to ckle consumer tastes and styles can posethreats to community well-being and cohesion particularly in highlytraditional and indigenous communities

The potential for exclusion assert Goodman and Goodman (2001115) extends to the sites of consumption as well as production

the premium attached to fair trade organic [products]makes them high-priced luxury items out of reach of theeveryday purchases of lower-income consumers Nor is theremuch consumption of these products in either the local orregional Southern contexts of their production [ ] new

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 183

institutional mechanisms will be needed to promote moresocially inclusive patterns of sustainable consumption

However there are emerging fair trade initiatives located within theglobal South that provide provocative responses to these very problemsand pose a challenge both to the conceptualization of socially consciousconsumerism and to the balance of power within the fair trademovement Some of the most promising of these initiatives are takingplace in Mexico and we turn now to examining two of them

Comercio Justo Mexico

Mexico was the birthplace of the international fair trade movement in itscurrent form The original fair trade sealmdashMax Havelaarmdashwas created inresponse to the request of organized Mexican coffee producers foraccess on equitable terms and in signi cant quantities to Europeanmarkets For the rst time lsquolsquofairly-producedrsquorsquo commodities were tradedwith suf cient volume to generate real social bene ts for small farmersUnder these fair trade arrangements some coffee and honey producerassociations have realized improvements in social and economicconditions for their families and communities (Pruyn 2001)

However it has become clear that international fair trade sales are notand will not become a panacea even for coffee growers Despite Mexicorsquosstatus as the worldrsquos largest exporter of fair trade coffee (Raynolds 2000)international consumer demand remains far below supply and not allcommunities can afford organic certication or are appropriatelylocated to produce quality high-grown arabica coffeemdashboth virtuallyrequirements to enter the Northern fair trade market Other productssuch as bananas cacao and orange juice are in the very early stages of fairtrade market development The vast majority of peasant farmersmoreover are not even geographically situated to grow these potentiallyhigh-value crops

Mexican civil society groups and organized producer groups came torealize that even with enormous growth fair trade exports could neverconstitute a major development solution in and of themselves Forall but a few of the best organized coffee cooperatives for exampleNorthern fair trade markets represent only a small fraction of theirsales and at best a modest additional increment to producersrsquo incomes

In response these organizations formed Comercio Justo Mexico (FairTrade Mexico) in 1999 with a vision of building a domestic fair trademarket The organization has developed a Mexican fair trade label whichmade its debut in 2001 and is the rst such seal in a Southern nation

[T]hese Mexican small producers do not only sell their goodson the international fair trade market A signi cant part of

184 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

their production continues to be sold in the domestic marketwhich is equally plagued by destructive intermediarism Thesmall producers need our nationrsquos internal market to generatemore just trading relations and they need consumers torecognize their products The lsquolsquoFair Trade Seal of Mexicorsquorsquomakes it possible for these small producers to distinguish theirproducts and allows the consumer to have trust thatmdashwiththeir purchasemdashthey are helping the Mexican farmers most inneed (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001a)

This comprehensive initiative is composed of three separate entitiesComercio Justo Mexico AC (Fair Trade Mexico) is a promotional andeducational group that combines several civil society development NGOsand peasant producer organizations Agromercados SA (Agromarkets)is a marketing body for fair trade products owned by the small producermember organizations (of each speci c product) themselves AndCertimex an independent Mexican organic certier is responsible formonitoring adherence to fair trade criteria Agromercados is establish-ing a chain of coffee shops in numerous cities to promote the sale oforganic and fair trade coffee and has created a single domestic fair tradecoffee brand label (Cafe Fertil) for all its small coffee producer members

With direct participation from grassroots producer groups and civilsociety organizations Comercio Justo has developed a set of general fairtrade criteria based on international standards as well as speci c qualityand certication standards for coffee and is doing the same for fourother products cacao honey handicrafts and basic grains (principallycorn) Comercio Justo stresses that its system is designed for organizedpeasant producers andmdashunlike international fair trade certiersmdashitdoes not intend to develop a separate lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo for plantationagriculture or wage labor

If building demand for fair trade products in the rich North isa formidable task creating a domestic fair trade market in the ThirdWorld would seem a challenge of Herculean proportions HoweverComercio Justo believes that socially conscious consumerism is not re-stricted to those with discretionary incomeThe group insists that by elim-inating intermediaries fairly traded products can be sold at a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo priceto the producer will be competitive with comparable conventionallyproduced goods and can even help address long-standing complaintsabout the quality of domestic products

The low prices paid to small producers on the national marketmean that the best Mexican products are exported Fair Trademakes it possible for small producers to also receive digniedprices in the national market and to not depend exclusively onexport (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001b)

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 185

The group is already selling fair trade labeled Cafe Fertil in mainstreamsupermarkets and restaurants through contracts with large retailersaccompanied by major promotion and consumer education campaignsa strategy that has been key to the success of fair trade coffee bananasand chocolate in Europe

The development of a Southern national fair trade seal also raisesinteresting issues of power and control within the fair trade movementAt stake here is the very potent question of who is empowered to certifywhom in the international fair trade movement Despite the fact thatSouthern producers do participate as members in some internationalfair trade organizations the agenda priorities and criteria for fairtrade have to date been set in the North (Renard 2003 Raynolds 2000)Other authors also note the lsquolsquoasymmetries of power at work in decidingwhat is fairrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001114) The Mexican fairtrade seal says Comercio Justo constitutes a lsquolsquosocial certicationrsquorsquo withone part of civil society certifyingmdashand regulatingmdashanother part of thesociety As such it enrolls both Southern producers and Southernconsumers in the process of (re)constructing what Renard (1999484)calls fair tradersquos lsquolsquosymbolic social meaningrsquorsquo

Fair Trade Tortillerias

One of the partners in the Comercio Justo Mexico network is ANECthe National Association of Peasant Marketing Enterprises ANECwhich represents small- to medium-sized producers of basic grains in 20of Mexicorsquos 31 states is engaged in a separate but related initiative thatspeaks to a key Mexican grievance over lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquomdashthe majorongoing rural crisis precipitated by the opening of the Mexican marketunder NAFTA Low quality imported corn mainly from the US hasundercut even the most ef cient Mexican producers and contributedto the rural exodus to large cities and to the US The quality of tortillashas declined in tandem (with an increasing proportion of dry cornmeal as opposed to whole-ground corn present in even lsquolsquofreshrsquorsquotortillas) and prices have soared as the last federal subsidies and pricecontrols are eliminated (Suarez 2002)

ANECrsquos vision is ambitious a national chain of tortillerias sellingfresh-ground tortillas made with GMO-free Mexican corn grown by theorganizationrsquos members and certied with the Comercio Justo Mexicoseal As of this writing ANEC has opened three tortillerias and hopes toexpand to 20 states by 2005 and nationwide (via franchises) by 2007Victor Suarez ANECrsquos Executive Director asserts that the seal holdsrelevance for domestic consumers

The fair trade seal plays the role of assuring the buyer that thetortilla has a guarantee in all phases of the process [that it

186 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

consumers in the North (1997299) This performance is also at work ina number of initiatives both within the North and within the SouthExploring the construction and deployment of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo on thesemore limited terrains is both theoretically and practically useful and wenow turn our attention in this direction

North-North Initiatives Convergence

One of the de ning features of economic globalization is that it tiestogether the fates of people at opposite corners of the earth in new andcomplex ways In the second of the two quotes that open this article RinkDickinson co-director of Equal Exchange Coffee highlights the simi-larity in the structural position of many farmers in both the North andSouth His comment describes a project called Red Tomato which bringsthe produce of southern small farmers to New England grocery stores

The Equal Exchange warehouse houses organic coffee frompeasant farmers in Oaxaca Mexico It houses watermelonsfrom disadvantaged black farmers from Georgia SouthCarolina and other parts of the south Both the watermelonand the coffee farmers have created co-ops to arrangemarketing and give them a chance against larger growers andprocessors The implications of this convergence between thework of the watermelon farmers peach farmers tea growersand coffee farmers is immense (20002)

In this structural and institutional lsquolsquoconvergencersquorsquo Dickinson explicitlysees an opportunity for lsquolsquobringing fair trade ideals to US farmersrsquorsquo andfor developing fair trade marketing in local regional and nationalcontexts as well as in the international frame

How might we assess Dickinsonrsquos ambition Are there indeed extantor emerging initiatives focused on marketing within in the UnitedStates that might plausibly fall under the rubric of lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo In factthere is a variety of such undertakings in all regions of the country Inorder to provide an empirical platform for further discussion we nowpro le ve of these initiatives with particular attention to the extent towhich these endogenous projects share characteristics commonlyassociated with North-South fair trade (see Table 1)

Red Tomato

Red Tomato is a marketing organization based in Canton Massachusettsthat distributes fresh fruits and vegetables from family farmers to retailsupermarkets food cooperatives and institutions in the Boston areaIf there is one initiative that might be expected to approximate theSouthNorth fair trade model most closely it is Red Tomato The

176 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

project was started in 1997 by Michael Rozyne who had earlier beena founder of Equal Exchange From direct conversations with staff itwas apparent to us that fair trade principles undergird Red Tomatorsquosapproach to facilitating market access for small sustainable farmersBut apart from a commitment to assuring a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo and to theestablishment of lsquolsquolong-term pricing agreementsrsquorsquo these principlesremain largely implicit in the organizationrsquos public face Indeed thewords lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo are almost completely absent from Red Tomatorsquospublic materials and point of sale advertising The only use of the termin its principal brochure comes in a description of its sibling EqualExchange

Dickinson (20002) explicitly outlines the similarities in the roles ofRed Tomato and Equal Exchange

Both groups are committed to connecting consumers tofarmers Both are actively engaged in the marketplace but arenot for pro t maximizing Both Equal Exchange and RedTomato are working with disadvantaged producers and bothare driven by cultures of worker innovation and control

Nevertheless Red Tomato has quite deliberately chosen to frame itspublic message in terms more familiar to North American consumersAccording to its brochure

Red Tomato is a nonpro t marketing organization that helpsfamily farmers survive and helps make sure that local people can nd high-quality affordable local produce (Red Tomato nd)

Rather than the formal certication and labeling characteristic ofSouth-North approaches to fair trade Red Tomato has chosen todevelop a lsquolsquobrandrsquorsquo of its own and that brand image does not include anexplicit fair trade element By way of explanation a Red Tomato staffmember distinguishes between lsquolsquofollowing fair trade principles versuscertifying or using fair trade principles to certifyrsquorsquo She is lsquolsquoverycomfortable saying Red Tomato follows fair trade principlesrsquorsquo but feelsthat many consumers in the United States are not now suf cientlyinformed or well enough developed politically to respond to a formalfair trade campaign focused on domestic produce and Americanfarmers (Red Tomato 2002)

Federation of Southern Cooperatives

Ironically fair trade is foregrounded by the Federation of SouthernCooperatives That organization is partnering with Red Tomato to bringto the New England market the watermelons and other produce grownby African-American family farmers in seven Southeastern states This

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 177

marketing relationship with a democratically run cooperative repre-sents another of the ways in which Red Tomatorsquos practices correspondto those found in South-North fair trading arrangements But whereRed Tomato prefers to accent the family farmlocalistenvironmentaldimensions of its product line the Federation of Southern Coopera-tives makes an unambiguous effort to deploy the moral charge of fairtrade in its outreach A Federation press release (20001) describing therelationship with Red Tomato is headlined lsquolsquoFederationLAF Engagedin lsquoFair Tradersquo Practices to Serve Family Farmers and Customersrsquorsquo andstates

Our goal at the FederationLAF is to make sure farmers aretreated fairly in the marketplace We want lsquofair tradersquo forfarmersmdashone that rst considers the farmerrsquos costs and pro t[ ] we hope it will serve as a model for family farmers acrossthe country

The FederationRed Tomato project directly addresses concernsfamiliar to the Latin American and African coffee farmers with whomEqual Exchange is accustomed to dealing the power of distributors andretailers the desire for collective action by producers and for closerlinkages with consumers the need for long-term contracts and ofcourse for a fair price

The FederationLAF rst asked the farmers what they consid-ered to be a fair price for their watermelon Once that wasdetermined all their costs were factored in above the farmerrsquosprice such as transportation and other overhead costs The FairTrade model considers the farmer rst and foremost and byeliminating the lsquolsquomiddlemanrsquorsquo the consumers also have a moredirect relationship with farmers which is a win-win situation forall concerned (Federation of Southern Cooperatives 20001)

The Federation then clearly sees the lsquolsquoconvergencersquorsquo referred to byDickinson and appreciates the potential of domestic fair trade directlymobilizing the language of fair trade to illustrate both the disadvan-tages its members face and the route to improving their situation

Family Farmer Cheese

Family Farmer Cheese is a joint project of the Wisconsin-based dairyfarm advocacy group Family Farm Defenders (FFD) and a cheesemanufacturer Cedar Grove Cheese Founded in the 1970s FFD haslong been actively involved in struggles to reform federal milkmarketing regulations and pricing policies oppose the new biotech-nologies and counter agribusiness consolidation Recognizing that

178 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

efforts to in uence federal legislation were important but slow theorganization sought ways to keep small dairy farmers in business in theshort run Family Farm Defendersrsquo leadership met with a localcheesemaker whose small family-owned factory was one of the fewsurviving facilities in what had once been a thriving regional industryAccording to FFD founder Francis Goodman lsquolsquoWe decided to marketa cheese brand based on a fair relationship between trading partnersproviding consumers an opportunity to vote for family dairy farms withtheir food dollars and providing family dairy farmers nancial securityrsquorsquo(Leinberger 19991)

The critical foundations of the Family Farmer Cheese initiative area guaranteed price for milk and a label All cheese sold under theFamily Farmer Cheese label is purchased from farmers at $16 perhundredweight (the market price at the time of writing is around the $9level) Milk is purchased from individual farmers and from the ScenicCentral Milk Producers Co-op another project of FFD Farmers sellingto the project must agree not to use recombinant bovine growthhormone to use sustainable methods of farming and to care foranimals in a humane way Family Farm Defenders and Cedar Grovecheese share marketing and distribution responsibilities and thecheese can be purchased by mail and through retail food cooperativesand natural foods stores throughout southern Wisconsin

The capacity to pay a fair price to farmers ultimately depends on thewillingness of consumers to pay a premium price for the cheese at retailoutlets This willingness is engendered by the cheesersquos distinctive labeland by other educational and outreach materials The FamilyFarmer Cheese label does not refer to fair trade or even fairness Itis distinctive however in its linking of farmers consumers and processor

Family Farm Defenders is a non-pro t organization composedof small family farmers and concerned consumers By choosingFamily Farmer brand you become part of an alliance workingtoward a safe sustainable food production system Our milkcomes from small dairy farmers who use no arti cial growthhormones (Family Farmer Cheese 2000)

Family Farm Defenders is comprised of non-farm citizens as well asfarmers and the organization takes a more systemic perspective than iscommonly encountered in alternative food initiatives Family FarmDefendersrsquo mission statement emphasizes not the virtues of localconsumption but the possibilities inherent in mobilization fordemocratic practice

We adhere to the principle of democracy by empoweringfarmers to speak for and represent themselves in the quest for

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 179

economic justice and responsible sustainable agriculturalpolicies the Family Farm Defenders is dedicated to speakingout against all the forces threatening the long-term survival ofrural America and to preserving a diverse safe and wholesomefood supply at an affordable price for consumers (Family FarmDefenders nd)

Midwest Food Alliance

The initiative that most closely resembles the characteristic criteria-certication-labeling arrangement of international (South-North) fairtrade may be that of the Midwest Food Alliance The Alliance hasestablished a set of lsquolsquoGuiding Principlesrsquorsquo which it uses as a frameworkfor formal third party certication of producers of meat freshvegetables and fruits Farm operations that conform to the guidingprinciples may use the lsquolsquoMidwest Food Alliance Approvedrsquorsquo seal tomarket their products The Alliance is engaged in an extensive programof consumer outreach and education as it attempts to make a placefor Alliance-labeled products in supermarkets in the Minneapolis-St Paul area

Though the superstructure of the Alliance program is similar to thelsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo fair trade model certain core elements of that paradigmare missing That the organizationrsquos literature and web site make noreference at all to lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is not necessarily surprising given thelack of engagement of all the US projects with that particularterminology But the Midwest Food Alliance also avoids an appeal to theneed for a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo or to the survival of small farmers Indeed inAlliance materials it is even dif cult to nd use of the term lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo so liberally deployed by the other initiatives we have reviewedNot only does the Midwest Food Alliance use the unquali ed termlsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo it also focuses more attention on the sustainability ofparticular production practices than on the survivability of particularkinds of farmers Farms should be lsquolsquopro tablersquorsquo but that pro tability isunderstood and presented by the Alliance as a function of effectivepresence in the marketplace and in the demands of consumers and notas an ethical or rights-based claim to a particular price While theproject works hard to create market access for the farmers they certifythe Alliance provides no oor price long-term contracts advancepayment or credit

The Midwest Food alliance is considerably less lsquolsquofarm-centricrsquorsquo thanthe other initiatives pro led here And paradoxically perhaps becauseof that orientation the project nds it appropriate to include theinterests of labor and the wider community in the guiding principles

180 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

which shape its certication process In addition to eight principlesrelating to agronomic and conservation practices farmers certi ed bythe Alliance must adhere to the following social axiom

Providing safe and fair working conditions for our employeesand our families For example we develop farm policies inorder to establish open channels for communicating workplacesafety and satisfaction We incorporate quality of life issuesinto our daily decision making process for ourselves ourfamilies our employees and our broader communities (Mid-west Food Alliance nd)

Without seeing the individual farm plans that must be drawn up forcerti ers it is dif cult to know how such generalities translate intoconcrete actions Still inclusion of what the Alliance calls lsquolsquohumanresource developmentrsquorsquo in its criteria is an important step towarda version of North-North fair trade that envisions justice for socialsectors beyond the lsquolsquofamily farmrsquorsquo

UFW Fair Trade Apple Campaign

If the Midwest Food Alliance has begun to address the interests andconcerns of agricultural workers the Fair Trade Apple Campaign of theUnited Farm Workers (UFW) union actually privileges labor as theprojectrsquos point of departure The UFW is well known for its efforts onbehalf of farm workersmdashparticularly the California grape boycottsmdashand has long sought to connect consumers to workersrsquo struggle for justtreatment in the nationrsquos fruit and vegetable elds The UFWrsquos base inLatino farmworker communities and its involvement in cross-borderlabor solidarity give the term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo an appealing resonance forthe UFW and the organization is explicit in terming its nascentinitiative the lsquolsquoWashington Fair Trade Apple Campaign (WAFTA)rsquorsquo

The apple industry is a highly globalized market Imported applesfrom Chile New Zealand and South Africa now compete intensely withthose grown in Washington and other states Washingtonrsquos familygrowers still the large majority of apple farmers are besieged bya combination of forces Consolidation in packing and distributionretail sourcing practices favoring the largest growers and delays of 12 to18 months in payment for their fruit have eroded growersrsquo market powerand pushed them into debilitating debt cycles (Jarosz and Qazi 20005ndash6Gamboa 2002) Growers receive only 11 percent of what consumers payat retail even though the retail pro t margin on apples is 32 percenthigher than for virtually any other grocery item (UFW 2001)

Squeezed from above small family apple growers often pass the painon to their workforce The statersquos apple workersmdashover 80 percent of

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 181

Mexican origin and often undocumentedmdashtake home an averageyearly salary of $7654 far below the poverty line (Jarosz and Qazi 2000BCGEU 2001) In both orchards and packing houses unions say thatworkers face discrimination are denied the right to organize andbargain collectively and do not enjoy health and safety protectionsguaranteed by state law (UFW 2001) Indeed the Washington appleindustry today remains 100 percent non-union (Gamboa 2002) Ratherthan focus their attention solely on laborrsquos immediate employersunions hoping to organize apple workers identify the structuraldynamics hurting both growers and workers

The US agricultural community grew and prospered on thevalues of a lsquolsquofair returnrsquorsquo for those who risk the most and a lsquolsquodecentwagersquorsquo for a hard dayrsquos work Todayrsquos new global economythreatens to erode these values even further The apple industryis unfair Smaller family-owned farms are going bankruptbecause corporations pay less per box than it costs growers tocultivate and harvest their crops (BCGEU 2001)

Accordingly the UFW is launching its Washington Fair Trade AppleCampaign as an lsquolsquoeconomic collaborationrsquorsquo with family growers andgrower collectives that lsquolsquouses consumer pressure on retailers to paygrowers more for their fruitrsquorsquo (BCGEU 2001) Having identied thegrowersrsquo entrapment in a cost-price squeeze as the root cause ofworkersrsquo problems the union hopes that rather than pitting growersagainst labor both will gain if family apple farmers were to receive a fairprice Guadalupe Gamboa the UFWrsquos National Vice President anddirector of the apple campaign insists that workersrsquo resentment fortheir poor conditions is not directed principally at family growers

[It] is mainly against the packers the companies who are theworst abusers of workers The problem in the past is that familygrowers have identied with the big companies Wersquore trying tobreak that by showing them that theyrsquore more like the workersbecause they donrsquot have any say in the price they get (2002)

The fair trade apple campaign will label apples produced under thisgrower-worker collaboration with the UFWrsquos black eagle symbol(Paynter 2001) The seal will be conditioned upon growersrsquo enteringinto collective bargaining agreements with the UFW guaranteeingbetter wages health and safety guarantees and respect for basic laborlaws (eg workers compensation) In return the union hopes to offersmall growers volume buying long-term contracts and better and moreconsistent prices by bypassing distributors and negotiating directly withmajor grocery chains interested in the seal The fruit will initially besold in the largest west coast citiesmdashincluding Seattle Sacramento

182 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

San Francisco and Los Angelesmdashviewed by the union as lsquolsquosolidaritymarketsrsquorsquo (Gamboa 2002) where recognition of the UFW and sympathyfor farmworker issues run high

Rather than setting a minimum lsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price as in fair trade coffeethe fair trade apple initiative centers upon a living wage and respect forlabor rights much like the lsquolsquoplantation modalityrsquorsquo of the internationalfair trade movement The UFW is asserting that such rights are centralto the trading equation The union draws parallels between fair tradeapples fairly traded coffee and international anti-sweatshop campaignsall of which seek to reform lsquolsquounjustrsquorsquo practices in their respective in-dustries through consumer education and pressure

South-South Initiatives Inclusion

A key question in realizing the promise of fair trade initiatives togenerate greater social equity and justice is their inclusiveness If accessto fair trade markets is constrained by entry barriers such as qualitystandards or competition between producer groups for limited marketdemand the movementrsquos transformative potential will be limitedGoodman and Goodman (2001115) frame clearly the challenge posedby the quality issue

while fair trade organic has opened up lsquolsquospaces of inclusionrsquorsquofor small-scale producers the dictates of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquo act as anexclusionary force at odds with the relational ethic of themovement Many producers typically the poorest in bothresources and natural endowments even if they can meet thecosts of organic certication may be excluded from thenetwork because of the strict quality standards imposed byimporters and suppliers

In addition producing for high-value global niche markets bringsboth opportunities and a new set of demands and complexities for ruralproducers (Ericson 1999) These markets with their concomitantdemands for product consistency quantity quality and timely deliveryand pressures to adapt to ckle consumer tastes and styles can posethreats to community well-being and cohesion particularly in highlytraditional and indigenous communities

The potential for exclusion assert Goodman and Goodman (2001115) extends to the sites of consumption as well as production

the premium attached to fair trade organic [products]makes them high-priced luxury items out of reach of theeveryday purchases of lower-income consumers Nor is theremuch consumption of these products in either the local orregional Southern contexts of their production [ ] new

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 183

institutional mechanisms will be needed to promote moresocially inclusive patterns of sustainable consumption

However there are emerging fair trade initiatives located within theglobal South that provide provocative responses to these very problemsand pose a challenge both to the conceptualization of socially consciousconsumerism and to the balance of power within the fair trademovement Some of the most promising of these initiatives are takingplace in Mexico and we turn now to examining two of them

Comercio Justo Mexico

Mexico was the birthplace of the international fair trade movement in itscurrent form The original fair trade sealmdashMax Havelaarmdashwas created inresponse to the request of organized Mexican coffee producers foraccess on equitable terms and in signi cant quantities to Europeanmarkets For the rst time lsquolsquofairly-producedrsquorsquo commodities were tradedwith suf cient volume to generate real social bene ts for small farmersUnder these fair trade arrangements some coffee and honey producerassociations have realized improvements in social and economicconditions for their families and communities (Pruyn 2001)

However it has become clear that international fair trade sales are notand will not become a panacea even for coffee growers Despite Mexicorsquosstatus as the worldrsquos largest exporter of fair trade coffee (Raynolds 2000)international consumer demand remains far below supply and not allcommunities can afford organic certication or are appropriatelylocated to produce quality high-grown arabica coffeemdashboth virtuallyrequirements to enter the Northern fair trade market Other productssuch as bananas cacao and orange juice are in the very early stages of fairtrade market development The vast majority of peasant farmersmoreover are not even geographically situated to grow these potentiallyhigh-value crops

Mexican civil society groups and organized producer groups came torealize that even with enormous growth fair trade exports could neverconstitute a major development solution in and of themselves Forall but a few of the best organized coffee cooperatives for exampleNorthern fair trade markets represent only a small fraction of theirsales and at best a modest additional increment to producersrsquo incomes

In response these organizations formed Comercio Justo Mexico (FairTrade Mexico) in 1999 with a vision of building a domestic fair trademarket The organization has developed a Mexican fair trade label whichmade its debut in 2001 and is the rst such seal in a Southern nation

[T]hese Mexican small producers do not only sell their goodson the international fair trade market A signi cant part of

184 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

their production continues to be sold in the domestic marketwhich is equally plagued by destructive intermediarism Thesmall producers need our nationrsquos internal market to generatemore just trading relations and they need consumers torecognize their products The lsquolsquoFair Trade Seal of Mexicorsquorsquomakes it possible for these small producers to distinguish theirproducts and allows the consumer to have trust thatmdashwiththeir purchasemdashthey are helping the Mexican farmers most inneed (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001a)

This comprehensive initiative is composed of three separate entitiesComercio Justo Mexico AC (Fair Trade Mexico) is a promotional andeducational group that combines several civil society development NGOsand peasant producer organizations Agromercados SA (Agromarkets)is a marketing body for fair trade products owned by the small producermember organizations (of each speci c product) themselves AndCertimex an independent Mexican organic certier is responsible formonitoring adherence to fair trade criteria Agromercados is establish-ing a chain of coffee shops in numerous cities to promote the sale oforganic and fair trade coffee and has created a single domestic fair tradecoffee brand label (Cafe Fertil) for all its small coffee producer members

With direct participation from grassroots producer groups and civilsociety organizations Comercio Justo has developed a set of general fairtrade criteria based on international standards as well as speci c qualityand certication standards for coffee and is doing the same for fourother products cacao honey handicrafts and basic grains (principallycorn) Comercio Justo stresses that its system is designed for organizedpeasant producers andmdashunlike international fair trade certiersmdashitdoes not intend to develop a separate lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo for plantationagriculture or wage labor

If building demand for fair trade products in the rich North isa formidable task creating a domestic fair trade market in the ThirdWorld would seem a challenge of Herculean proportions HoweverComercio Justo believes that socially conscious consumerism is not re-stricted to those with discretionary incomeThe group insists that by elim-inating intermediaries fairly traded products can be sold at a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo priceto the producer will be competitive with comparable conventionallyproduced goods and can even help address long-standing complaintsabout the quality of domestic products

The low prices paid to small producers on the national marketmean that the best Mexican products are exported Fair Trademakes it possible for small producers to also receive digniedprices in the national market and to not depend exclusively onexport (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001b)

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 185

The group is already selling fair trade labeled Cafe Fertil in mainstreamsupermarkets and restaurants through contracts with large retailersaccompanied by major promotion and consumer education campaignsa strategy that has been key to the success of fair trade coffee bananasand chocolate in Europe

The development of a Southern national fair trade seal also raisesinteresting issues of power and control within the fair trade movementAt stake here is the very potent question of who is empowered to certifywhom in the international fair trade movement Despite the fact thatSouthern producers do participate as members in some internationalfair trade organizations the agenda priorities and criteria for fairtrade have to date been set in the North (Renard 2003 Raynolds 2000)Other authors also note the lsquolsquoasymmetries of power at work in decidingwhat is fairrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001114) The Mexican fairtrade seal says Comercio Justo constitutes a lsquolsquosocial certicationrsquorsquo withone part of civil society certifyingmdashand regulatingmdashanother part of thesociety As such it enrolls both Southern producers and Southernconsumers in the process of (re)constructing what Renard (1999484)calls fair tradersquos lsquolsquosymbolic social meaningrsquorsquo

Fair Trade Tortillerias

One of the partners in the Comercio Justo Mexico network is ANECthe National Association of Peasant Marketing Enterprises ANECwhich represents small- to medium-sized producers of basic grains in 20of Mexicorsquos 31 states is engaged in a separate but related initiative thatspeaks to a key Mexican grievance over lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquomdashthe majorongoing rural crisis precipitated by the opening of the Mexican marketunder NAFTA Low quality imported corn mainly from the US hasundercut even the most ef cient Mexican producers and contributedto the rural exodus to large cities and to the US The quality of tortillashas declined in tandem (with an increasing proportion of dry cornmeal as opposed to whole-ground corn present in even lsquolsquofreshrsquorsquotortillas) and prices have soared as the last federal subsidies and pricecontrols are eliminated (Suarez 2002)

ANECrsquos vision is ambitious a national chain of tortillerias sellingfresh-ground tortillas made with GMO-free Mexican corn grown by theorganizationrsquos members and certied with the Comercio Justo Mexicoseal As of this writing ANEC has opened three tortillerias and hopes toexpand to 20 states by 2005 and nationwide (via franchises) by 2007Victor Suarez ANECrsquos Executive Director asserts that the seal holdsrelevance for domestic consumers

The fair trade seal plays the role of assuring the buyer that thetortilla has a guarantee in all phases of the process [that it

186 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

project was started in 1997 by Michael Rozyne who had earlier beena founder of Equal Exchange From direct conversations with staff itwas apparent to us that fair trade principles undergird Red Tomatorsquosapproach to facilitating market access for small sustainable farmersBut apart from a commitment to assuring a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo and to theestablishment of lsquolsquolong-term pricing agreementsrsquorsquo these principlesremain largely implicit in the organizationrsquos public face Indeed thewords lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo are almost completely absent from Red Tomatorsquospublic materials and point of sale advertising The only use of the termin its principal brochure comes in a description of its sibling EqualExchange

Dickinson (20002) explicitly outlines the similarities in the roles ofRed Tomato and Equal Exchange

Both groups are committed to connecting consumers tofarmers Both are actively engaged in the marketplace but arenot for pro t maximizing Both Equal Exchange and RedTomato are working with disadvantaged producers and bothare driven by cultures of worker innovation and control

Nevertheless Red Tomato has quite deliberately chosen to frame itspublic message in terms more familiar to North American consumersAccording to its brochure

Red Tomato is a nonpro t marketing organization that helpsfamily farmers survive and helps make sure that local people can nd high-quality affordable local produce (Red Tomato nd)

Rather than the formal certication and labeling characteristic ofSouth-North approaches to fair trade Red Tomato has chosen todevelop a lsquolsquobrandrsquorsquo of its own and that brand image does not include anexplicit fair trade element By way of explanation a Red Tomato staffmember distinguishes between lsquolsquofollowing fair trade principles versuscertifying or using fair trade principles to certifyrsquorsquo She is lsquolsquoverycomfortable saying Red Tomato follows fair trade principlesrsquorsquo but feelsthat many consumers in the United States are not now suf cientlyinformed or well enough developed politically to respond to a formalfair trade campaign focused on domestic produce and Americanfarmers (Red Tomato 2002)

Federation of Southern Cooperatives

Ironically fair trade is foregrounded by the Federation of SouthernCooperatives That organization is partnering with Red Tomato to bringto the New England market the watermelons and other produce grownby African-American family farmers in seven Southeastern states This

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 177

marketing relationship with a democratically run cooperative repre-sents another of the ways in which Red Tomatorsquos practices correspondto those found in South-North fair trading arrangements But whereRed Tomato prefers to accent the family farmlocalistenvironmentaldimensions of its product line the Federation of Southern Coopera-tives makes an unambiguous effort to deploy the moral charge of fairtrade in its outreach A Federation press release (20001) describing therelationship with Red Tomato is headlined lsquolsquoFederationLAF Engagedin lsquoFair Tradersquo Practices to Serve Family Farmers and Customersrsquorsquo andstates

Our goal at the FederationLAF is to make sure farmers aretreated fairly in the marketplace We want lsquofair tradersquo forfarmersmdashone that rst considers the farmerrsquos costs and pro t[ ] we hope it will serve as a model for family farmers acrossthe country

The FederationRed Tomato project directly addresses concernsfamiliar to the Latin American and African coffee farmers with whomEqual Exchange is accustomed to dealing the power of distributors andretailers the desire for collective action by producers and for closerlinkages with consumers the need for long-term contracts and ofcourse for a fair price

The FederationLAF rst asked the farmers what they consid-ered to be a fair price for their watermelon Once that wasdetermined all their costs were factored in above the farmerrsquosprice such as transportation and other overhead costs The FairTrade model considers the farmer rst and foremost and byeliminating the lsquolsquomiddlemanrsquorsquo the consumers also have a moredirect relationship with farmers which is a win-win situation forall concerned (Federation of Southern Cooperatives 20001)

The Federation then clearly sees the lsquolsquoconvergencersquorsquo referred to byDickinson and appreciates the potential of domestic fair trade directlymobilizing the language of fair trade to illustrate both the disadvan-tages its members face and the route to improving their situation

Family Farmer Cheese

Family Farmer Cheese is a joint project of the Wisconsin-based dairyfarm advocacy group Family Farm Defenders (FFD) and a cheesemanufacturer Cedar Grove Cheese Founded in the 1970s FFD haslong been actively involved in struggles to reform federal milkmarketing regulations and pricing policies oppose the new biotech-nologies and counter agribusiness consolidation Recognizing that

178 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

efforts to in uence federal legislation were important but slow theorganization sought ways to keep small dairy farmers in business in theshort run Family Farm Defendersrsquo leadership met with a localcheesemaker whose small family-owned factory was one of the fewsurviving facilities in what had once been a thriving regional industryAccording to FFD founder Francis Goodman lsquolsquoWe decided to marketa cheese brand based on a fair relationship between trading partnersproviding consumers an opportunity to vote for family dairy farms withtheir food dollars and providing family dairy farmers nancial securityrsquorsquo(Leinberger 19991)

The critical foundations of the Family Farmer Cheese initiative area guaranteed price for milk and a label All cheese sold under theFamily Farmer Cheese label is purchased from farmers at $16 perhundredweight (the market price at the time of writing is around the $9level) Milk is purchased from individual farmers and from the ScenicCentral Milk Producers Co-op another project of FFD Farmers sellingto the project must agree not to use recombinant bovine growthhormone to use sustainable methods of farming and to care foranimals in a humane way Family Farm Defenders and Cedar Grovecheese share marketing and distribution responsibilities and thecheese can be purchased by mail and through retail food cooperativesand natural foods stores throughout southern Wisconsin

The capacity to pay a fair price to farmers ultimately depends on thewillingness of consumers to pay a premium price for the cheese at retailoutlets This willingness is engendered by the cheesersquos distinctive labeland by other educational and outreach materials The FamilyFarmer Cheese label does not refer to fair trade or even fairness Itis distinctive however in its linking of farmers consumers and processor

Family Farm Defenders is a non-pro t organization composedof small family farmers and concerned consumers By choosingFamily Farmer brand you become part of an alliance workingtoward a safe sustainable food production system Our milkcomes from small dairy farmers who use no arti cial growthhormones (Family Farmer Cheese 2000)

Family Farm Defenders is comprised of non-farm citizens as well asfarmers and the organization takes a more systemic perspective than iscommonly encountered in alternative food initiatives Family FarmDefendersrsquo mission statement emphasizes not the virtues of localconsumption but the possibilities inherent in mobilization fordemocratic practice

We adhere to the principle of democracy by empoweringfarmers to speak for and represent themselves in the quest for

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 179

economic justice and responsible sustainable agriculturalpolicies the Family Farm Defenders is dedicated to speakingout against all the forces threatening the long-term survival ofrural America and to preserving a diverse safe and wholesomefood supply at an affordable price for consumers (Family FarmDefenders nd)

Midwest Food Alliance

The initiative that most closely resembles the characteristic criteria-certication-labeling arrangement of international (South-North) fairtrade may be that of the Midwest Food Alliance The Alliance hasestablished a set of lsquolsquoGuiding Principlesrsquorsquo which it uses as a frameworkfor formal third party certication of producers of meat freshvegetables and fruits Farm operations that conform to the guidingprinciples may use the lsquolsquoMidwest Food Alliance Approvedrsquorsquo seal tomarket their products The Alliance is engaged in an extensive programof consumer outreach and education as it attempts to make a placefor Alliance-labeled products in supermarkets in the Minneapolis-St Paul area

Though the superstructure of the Alliance program is similar to thelsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo fair trade model certain core elements of that paradigmare missing That the organizationrsquos literature and web site make noreference at all to lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is not necessarily surprising given thelack of engagement of all the US projects with that particularterminology But the Midwest Food Alliance also avoids an appeal to theneed for a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo or to the survival of small farmers Indeed inAlliance materials it is even dif cult to nd use of the term lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo so liberally deployed by the other initiatives we have reviewedNot only does the Midwest Food Alliance use the unquali ed termlsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo it also focuses more attention on the sustainability ofparticular production practices than on the survivability of particularkinds of farmers Farms should be lsquolsquopro tablersquorsquo but that pro tability isunderstood and presented by the Alliance as a function of effectivepresence in the marketplace and in the demands of consumers and notas an ethical or rights-based claim to a particular price While theproject works hard to create market access for the farmers they certifythe Alliance provides no oor price long-term contracts advancepayment or credit

The Midwest Food alliance is considerably less lsquolsquofarm-centricrsquorsquo thanthe other initiatives pro led here And paradoxically perhaps becauseof that orientation the project nds it appropriate to include theinterests of labor and the wider community in the guiding principles

180 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

which shape its certication process In addition to eight principlesrelating to agronomic and conservation practices farmers certi ed bythe Alliance must adhere to the following social axiom

Providing safe and fair working conditions for our employeesand our families For example we develop farm policies inorder to establish open channels for communicating workplacesafety and satisfaction We incorporate quality of life issuesinto our daily decision making process for ourselves ourfamilies our employees and our broader communities (Mid-west Food Alliance nd)

Without seeing the individual farm plans that must be drawn up forcerti ers it is dif cult to know how such generalities translate intoconcrete actions Still inclusion of what the Alliance calls lsquolsquohumanresource developmentrsquorsquo in its criteria is an important step towarda version of North-North fair trade that envisions justice for socialsectors beyond the lsquolsquofamily farmrsquorsquo

UFW Fair Trade Apple Campaign

If the Midwest Food Alliance has begun to address the interests andconcerns of agricultural workers the Fair Trade Apple Campaign of theUnited Farm Workers (UFW) union actually privileges labor as theprojectrsquos point of departure The UFW is well known for its efforts onbehalf of farm workersmdashparticularly the California grape boycottsmdashand has long sought to connect consumers to workersrsquo struggle for justtreatment in the nationrsquos fruit and vegetable elds The UFWrsquos base inLatino farmworker communities and its involvement in cross-borderlabor solidarity give the term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo an appealing resonance forthe UFW and the organization is explicit in terming its nascentinitiative the lsquolsquoWashington Fair Trade Apple Campaign (WAFTA)rsquorsquo

The apple industry is a highly globalized market Imported applesfrom Chile New Zealand and South Africa now compete intensely withthose grown in Washington and other states Washingtonrsquos familygrowers still the large majority of apple farmers are besieged bya combination of forces Consolidation in packing and distributionretail sourcing practices favoring the largest growers and delays of 12 to18 months in payment for their fruit have eroded growersrsquo market powerand pushed them into debilitating debt cycles (Jarosz and Qazi 20005ndash6Gamboa 2002) Growers receive only 11 percent of what consumers payat retail even though the retail pro t margin on apples is 32 percenthigher than for virtually any other grocery item (UFW 2001)

Squeezed from above small family apple growers often pass the painon to their workforce The statersquos apple workersmdashover 80 percent of

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 181

Mexican origin and often undocumentedmdashtake home an averageyearly salary of $7654 far below the poverty line (Jarosz and Qazi 2000BCGEU 2001) In both orchards and packing houses unions say thatworkers face discrimination are denied the right to organize andbargain collectively and do not enjoy health and safety protectionsguaranteed by state law (UFW 2001) Indeed the Washington appleindustry today remains 100 percent non-union (Gamboa 2002) Ratherthan focus their attention solely on laborrsquos immediate employersunions hoping to organize apple workers identify the structuraldynamics hurting both growers and workers

The US agricultural community grew and prospered on thevalues of a lsquolsquofair returnrsquorsquo for those who risk the most and a lsquolsquodecentwagersquorsquo for a hard dayrsquos work Todayrsquos new global economythreatens to erode these values even further The apple industryis unfair Smaller family-owned farms are going bankruptbecause corporations pay less per box than it costs growers tocultivate and harvest their crops (BCGEU 2001)

Accordingly the UFW is launching its Washington Fair Trade AppleCampaign as an lsquolsquoeconomic collaborationrsquorsquo with family growers andgrower collectives that lsquolsquouses consumer pressure on retailers to paygrowers more for their fruitrsquorsquo (BCGEU 2001) Having identied thegrowersrsquo entrapment in a cost-price squeeze as the root cause ofworkersrsquo problems the union hopes that rather than pitting growersagainst labor both will gain if family apple farmers were to receive a fairprice Guadalupe Gamboa the UFWrsquos National Vice President anddirector of the apple campaign insists that workersrsquo resentment fortheir poor conditions is not directed principally at family growers

[It] is mainly against the packers the companies who are theworst abusers of workers The problem in the past is that familygrowers have identied with the big companies Wersquore trying tobreak that by showing them that theyrsquore more like the workersbecause they donrsquot have any say in the price they get (2002)

The fair trade apple campaign will label apples produced under thisgrower-worker collaboration with the UFWrsquos black eagle symbol(Paynter 2001) The seal will be conditioned upon growersrsquo enteringinto collective bargaining agreements with the UFW guaranteeingbetter wages health and safety guarantees and respect for basic laborlaws (eg workers compensation) In return the union hopes to offersmall growers volume buying long-term contracts and better and moreconsistent prices by bypassing distributors and negotiating directly withmajor grocery chains interested in the seal The fruit will initially besold in the largest west coast citiesmdashincluding Seattle Sacramento

182 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

San Francisco and Los Angelesmdashviewed by the union as lsquolsquosolidaritymarketsrsquorsquo (Gamboa 2002) where recognition of the UFW and sympathyfor farmworker issues run high

Rather than setting a minimum lsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price as in fair trade coffeethe fair trade apple initiative centers upon a living wage and respect forlabor rights much like the lsquolsquoplantation modalityrsquorsquo of the internationalfair trade movement The UFW is asserting that such rights are centralto the trading equation The union draws parallels between fair tradeapples fairly traded coffee and international anti-sweatshop campaignsall of which seek to reform lsquolsquounjustrsquorsquo practices in their respective in-dustries through consumer education and pressure

South-South Initiatives Inclusion

A key question in realizing the promise of fair trade initiatives togenerate greater social equity and justice is their inclusiveness If accessto fair trade markets is constrained by entry barriers such as qualitystandards or competition between producer groups for limited marketdemand the movementrsquos transformative potential will be limitedGoodman and Goodman (2001115) frame clearly the challenge posedby the quality issue

while fair trade organic has opened up lsquolsquospaces of inclusionrsquorsquofor small-scale producers the dictates of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquo act as anexclusionary force at odds with the relational ethic of themovement Many producers typically the poorest in bothresources and natural endowments even if they can meet thecosts of organic certication may be excluded from thenetwork because of the strict quality standards imposed byimporters and suppliers

In addition producing for high-value global niche markets bringsboth opportunities and a new set of demands and complexities for ruralproducers (Ericson 1999) These markets with their concomitantdemands for product consistency quantity quality and timely deliveryand pressures to adapt to ckle consumer tastes and styles can posethreats to community well-being and cohesion particularly in highlytraditional and indigenous communities

The potential for exclusion assert Goodman and Goodman (2001115) extends to the sites of consumption as well as production

the premium attached to fair trade organic [products]makes them high-priced luxury items out of reach of theeveryday purchases of lower-income consumers Nor is theremuch consumption of these products in either the local orregional Southern contexts of their production [ ] new

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 183

institutional mechanisms will be needed to promote moresocially inclusive patterns of sustainable consumption

However there are emerging fair trade initiatives located within theglobal South that provide provocative responses to these very problemsand pose a challenge both to the conceptualization of socially consciousconsumerism and to the balance of power within the fair trademovement Some of the most promising of these initiatives are takingplace in Mexico and we turn now to examining two of them

Comercio Justo Mexico

Mexico was the birthplace of the international fair trade movement in itscurrent form The original fair trade sealmdashMax Havelaarmdashwas created inresponse to the request of organized Mexican coffee producers foraccess on equitable terms and in signi cant quantities to Europeanmarkets For the rst time lsquolsquofairly-producedrsquorsquo commodities were tradedwith suf cient volume to generate real social bene ts for small farmersUnder these fair trade arrangements some coffee and honey producerassociations have realized improvements in social and economicconditions for their families and communities (Pruyn 2001)

However it has become clear that international fair trade sales are notand will not become a panacea even for coffee growers Despite Mexicorsquosstatus as the worldrsquos largest exporter of fair trade coffee (Raynolds 2000)international consumer demand remains far below supply and not allcommunities can afford organic certication or are appropriatelylocated to produce quality high-grown arabica coffeemdashboth virtuallyrequirements to enter the Northern fair trade market Other productssuch as bananas cacao and orange juice are in the very early stages of fairtrade market development The vast majority of peasant farmersmoreover are not even geographically situated to grow these potentiallyhigh-value crops

Mexican civil society groups and organized producer groups came torealize that even with enormous growth fair trade exports could neverconstitute a major development solution in and of themselves Forall but a few of the best organized coffee cooperatives for exampleNorthern fair trade markets represent only a small fraction of theirsales and at best a modest additional increment to producersrsquo incomes

In response these organizations formed Comercio Justo Mexico (FairTrade Mexico) in 1999 with a vision of building a domestic fair trademarket The organization has developed a Mexican fair trade label whichmade its debut in 2001 and is the rst such seal in a Southern nation

[T]hese Mexican small producers do not only sell their goodson the international fair trade market A signi cant part of

184 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

their production continues to be sold in the domestic marketwhich is equally plagued by destructive intermediarism Thesmall producers need our nationrsquos internal market to generatemore just trading relations and they need consumers torecognize their products The lsquolsquoFair Trade Seal of Mexicorsquorsquomakes it possible for these small producers to distinguish theirproducts and allows the consumer to have trust thatmdashwiththeir purchasemdashthey are helping the Mexican farmers most inneed (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001a)

This comprehensive initiative is composed of three separate entitiesComercio Justo Mexico AC (Fair Trade Mexico) is a promotional andeducational group that combines several civil society development NGOsand peasant producer organizations Agromercados SA (Agromarkets)is a marketing body for fair trade products owned by the small producermember organizations (of each speci c product) themselves AndCertimex an independent Mexican organic certier is responsible formonitoring adherence to fair trade criteria Agromercados is establish-ing a chain of coffee shops in numerous cities to promote the sale oforganic and fair trade coffee and has created a single domestic fair tradecoffee brand label (Cafe Fertil) for all its small coffee producer members

With direct participation from grassroots producer groups and civilsociety organizations Comercio Justo has developed a set of general fairtrade criteria based on international standards as well as speci c qualityand certication standards for coffee and is doing the same for fourother products cacao honey handicrafts and basic grains (principallycorn) Comercio Justo stresses that its system is designed for organizedpeasant producers andmdashunlike international fair trade certiersmdashitdoes not intend to develop a separate lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo for plantationagriculture or wage labor

If building demand for fair trade products in the rich North isa formidable task creating a domestic fair trade market in the ThirdWorld would seem a challenge of Herculean proportions HoweverComercio Justo believes that socially conscious consumerism is not re-stricted to those with discretionary incomeThe group insists that by elim-inating intermediaries fairly traded products can be sold at a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo priceto the producer will be competitive with comparable conventionallyproduced goods and can even help address long-standing complaintsabout the quality of domestic products

The low prices paid to small producers on the national marketmean that the best Mexican products are exported Fair Trademakes it possible for small producers to also receive digniedprices in the national market and to not depend exclusively onexport (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001b)

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 185

The group is already selling fair trade labeled Cafe Fertil in mainstreamsupermarkets and restaurants through contracts with large retailersaccompanied by major promotion and consumer education campaignsa strategy that has been key to the success of fair trade coffee bananasand chocolate in Europe

The development of a Southern national fair trade seal also raisesinteresting issues of power and control within the fair trade movementAt stake here is the very potent question of who is empowered to certifywhom in the international fair trade movement Despite the fact thatSouthern producers do participate as members in some internationalfair trade organizations the agenda priorities and criteria for fairtrade have to date been set in the North (Renard 2003 Raynolds 2000)Other authors also note the lsquolsquoasymmetries of power at work in decidingwhat is fairrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001114) The Mexican fairtrade seal says Comercio Justo constitutes a lsquolsquosocial certicationrsquorsquo withone part of civil society certifyingmdashand regulatingmdashanother part of thesociety As such it enrolls both Southern producers and Southernconsumers in the process of (re)constructing what Renard (1999484)calls fair tradersquos lsquolsquosymbolic social meaningrsquorsquo

Fair Trade Tortillerias

One of the partners in the Comercio Justo Mexico network is ANECthe National Association of Peasant Marketing Enterprises ANECwhich represents small- to medium-sized producers of basic grains in 20of Mexicorsquos 31 states is engaged in a separate but related initiative thatspeaks to a key Mexican grievance over lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquomdashthe majorongoing rural crisis precipitated by the opening of the Mexican marketunder NAFTA Low quality imported corn mainly from the US hasundercut even the most ef cient Mexican producers and contributedto the rural exodus to large cities and to the US The quality of tortillashas declined in tandem (with an increasing proportion of dry cornmeal as opposed to whole-ground corn present in even lsquolsquofreshrsquorsquotortillas) and prices have soared as the last federal subsidies and pricecontrols are eliminated (Suarez 2002)

ANECrsquos vision is ambitious a national chain of tortillerias sellingfresh-ground tortillas made with GMO-free Mexican corn grown by theorganizationrsquos members and certied with the Comercio Justo Mexicoseal As of this writing ANEC has opened three tortillerias and hopes toexpand to 20 states by 2005 and nationwide (via franchises) by 2007Victor Suarez ANECrsquos Executive Director asserts that the seal holdsrelevance for domestic consumers

The fair trade seal plays the role of assuring the buyer that thetortilla has a guarantee in all phases of the process [that it

186 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

marketing relationship with a democratically run cooperative repre-sents another of the ways in which Red Tomatorsquos practices correspondto those found in South-North fair trading arrangements But whereRed Tomato prefers to accent the family farmlocalistenvironmentaldimensions of its product line the Federation of Southern Coopera-tives makes an unambiguous effort to deploy the moral charge of fairtrade in its outreach A Federation press release (20001) describing therelationship with Red Tomato is headlined lsquolsquoFederationLAF Engagedin lsquoFair Tradersquo Practices to Serve Family Farmers and Customersrsquorsquo andstates

Our goal at the FederationLAF is to make sure farmers aretreated fairly in the marketplace We want lsquofair tradersquo forfarmersmdashone that rst considers the farmerrsquos costs and pro t[ ] we hope it will serve as a model for family farmers acrossthe country

The FederationRed Tomato project directly addresses concernsfamiliar to the Latin American and African coffee farmers with whomEqual Exchange is accustomed to dealing the power of distributors andretailers the desire for collective action by producers and for closerlinkages with consumers the need for long-term contracts and ofcourse for a fair price

The FederationLAF rst asked the farmers what they consid-ered to be a fair price for their watermelon Once that wasdetermined all their costs were factored in above the farmerrsquosprice such as transportation and other overhead costs The FairTrade model considers the farmer rst and foremost and byeliminating the lsquolsquomiddlemanrsquorsquo the consumers also have a moredirect relationship with farmers which is a win-win situation forall concerned (Federation of Southern Cooperatives 20001)

The Federation then clearly sees the lsquolsquoconvergencersquorsquo referred to byDickinson and appreciates the potential of domestic fair trade directlymobilizing the language of fair trade to illustrate both the disadvan-tages its members face and the route to improving their situation

Family Farmer Cheese

Family Farmer Cheese is a joint project of the Wisconsin-based dairyfarm advocacy group Family Farm Defenders (FFD) and a cheesemanufacturer Cedar Grove Cheese Founded in the 1970s FFD haslong been actively involved in struggles to reform federal milkmarketing regulations and pricing policies oppose the new biotech-nologies and counter agribusiness consolidation Recognizing that

178 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

efforts to in uence federal legislation were important but slow theorganization sought ways to keep small dairy farmers in business in theshort run Family Farm Defendersrsquo leadership met with a localcheesemaker whose small family-owned factory was one of the fewsurviving facilities in what had once been a thriving regional industryAccording to FFD founder Francis Goodman lsquolsquoWe decided to marketa cheese brand based on a fair relationship between trading partnersproviding consumers an opportunity to vote for family dairy farms withtheir food dollars and providing family dairy farmers nancial securityrsquorsquo(Leinberger 19991)

The critical foundations of the Family Farmer Cheese initiative area guaranteed price for milk and a label All cheese sold under theFamily Farmer Cheese label is purchased from farmers at $16 perhundredweight (the market price at the time of writing is around the $9level) Milk is purchased from individual farmers and from the ScenicCentral Milk Producers Co-op another project of FFD Farmers sellingto the project must agree not to use recombinant bovine growthhormone to use sustainable methods of farming and to care foranimals in a humane way Family Farm Defenders and Cedar Grovecheese share marketing and distribution responsibilities and thecheese can be purchased by mail and through retail food cooperativesand natural foods stores throughout southern Wisconsin

The capacity to pay a fair price to farmers ultimately depends on thewillingness of consumers to pay a premium price for the cheese at retailoutlets This willingness is engendered by the cheesersquos distinctive labeland by other educational and outreach materials The FamilyFarmer Cheese label does not refer to fair trade or even fairness Itis distinctive however in its linking of farmers consumers and processor

Family Farm Defenders is a non-pro t organization composedof small family farmers and concerned consumers By choosingFamily Farmer brand you become part of an alliance workingtoward a safe sustainable food production system Our milkcomes from small dairy farmers who use no arti cial growthhormones (Family Farmer Cheese 2000)

Family Farm Defenders is comprised of non-farm citizens as well asfarmers and the organization takes a more systemic perspective than iscommonly encountered in alternative food initiatives Family FarmDefendersrsquo mission statement emphasizes not the virtues of localconsumption but the possibilities inherent in mobilization fordemocratic practice

We adhere to the principle of democracy by empoweringfarmers to speak for and represent themselves in the quest for

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 179

economic justice and responsible sustainable agriculturalpolicies the Family Farm Defenders is dedicated to speakingout against all the forces threatening the long-term survival ofrural America and to preserving a diverse safe and wholesomefood supply at an affordable price for consumers (Family FarmDefenders nd)

Midwest Food Alliance

The initiative that most closely resembles the characteristic criteria-certication-labeling arrangement of international (South-North) fairtrade may be that of the Midwest Food Alliance The Alliance hasestablished a set of lsquolsquoGuiding Principlesrsquorsquo which it uses as a frameworkfor formal third party certication of producers of meat freshvegetables and fruits Farm operations that conform to the guidingprinciples may use the lsquolsquoMidwest Food Alliance Approvedrsquorsquo seal tomarket their products The Alliance is engaged in an extensive programof consumer outreach and education as it attempts to make a placefor Alliance-labeled products in supermarkets in the Minneapolis-St Paul area

Though the superstructure of the Alliance program is similar to thelsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo fair trade model certain core elements of that paradigmare missing That the organizationrsquos literature and web site make noreference at all to lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is not necessarily surprising given thelack of engagement of all the US projects with that particularterminology But the Midwest Food Alliance also avoids an appeal to theneed for a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo or to the survival of small farmers Indeed inAlliance materials it is even dif cult to nd use of the term lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo so liberally deployed by the other initiatives we have reviewedNot only does the Midwest Food Alliance use the unquali ed termlsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo it also focuses more attention on the sustainability ofparticular production practices than on the survivability of particularkinds of farmers Farms should be lsquolsquopro tablersquorsquo but that pro tability isunderstood and presented by the Alliance as a function of effectivepresence in the marketplace and in the demands of consumers and notas an ethical or rights-based claim to a particular price While theproject works hard to create market access for the farmers they certifythe Alliance provides no oor price long-term contracts advancepayment or credit

The Midwest Food alliance is considerably less lsquolsquofarm-centricrsquorsquo thanthe other initiatives pro led here And paradoxically perhaps becauseof that orientation the project nds it appropriate to include theinterests of labor and the wider community in the guiding principles

180 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

which shape its certication process In addition to eight principlesrelating to agronomic and conservation practices farmers certi ed bythe Alliance must adhere to the following social axiom

Providing safe and fair working conditions for our employeesand our families For example we develop farm policies inorder to establish open channels for communicating workplacesafety and satisfaction We incorporate quality of life issuesinto our daily decision making process for ourselves ourfamilies our employees and our broader communities (Mid-west Food Alliance nd)

Without seeing the individual farm plans that must be drawn up forcerti ers it is dif cult to know how such generalities translate intoconcrete actions Still inclusion of what the Alliance calls lsquolsquohumanresource developmentrsquorsquo in its criteria is an important step towarda version of North-North fair trade that envisions justice for socialsectors beyond the lsquolsquofamily farmrsquorsquo

UFW Fair Trade Apple Campaign

If the Midwest Food Alliance has begun to address the interests andconcerns of agricultural workers the Fair Trade Apple Campaign of theUnited Farm Workers (UFW) union actually privileges labor as theprojectrsquos point of departure The UFW is well known for its efforts onbehalf of farm workersmdashparticularly the California grape boycottsmdashand has long sought to connect consumers to workersrsquo struggle for justtreatment in the nationrsquos fruit and vegetable elds The UFWrsquos base inLatino farmworker communities and its involvement in cross-borderlabor solidarity give the term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo an appealing resonance forthe UFW and the organization is explicit in terming its nascentinitiative the lsquolsquoWashington Fair Trade Apple Campaign (WAFTA)rsquorsquo

The apple industry is a highly globalized market Imported applesfrom Chile New Zealand and South Africa now compete intensely withthose grown in Washington and other states Washingtonrsquos familygrowers still the large majority of apple farmers are besieged bya combination of forces Consolidation in packing and distributionretail sourcing practices favoring the largest growers and delays of 12 to18 months in payment for their fruit have eroded growersrsquo market powerand pushed them into debilitating debt cycles (Jarosz and Qazi 20005ndash6Gamboa 2002) Growers receive only 11 percent of what consumers payat retail even though the retail pro t margin on apples is 32 percenthigher than for virtually any other grocery item (UFW 2001)

Squeezed from above small family apple growers often pass the painon to their workforce The statersquos apple workersmdashover 80 percent of

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 181

Mexican origin and often undocumentedmdashtake home an averageyearly salary of $7654 far below the poverty line (Jarosz and Qazi 2000BCGEU 2001) In both orchards and packing houses unions say thatworkers face discrimination are denied the right to organize andbargain collectively and do not enjoy health and safety protectionsguaranteed by state law (UFW 2001) Indeed the Washington appleindustry today remains 100 percent non-union (Gamboa 2002) Ratherthan focus their attention solely on laborrsquos immediate employersunions hoping to organize apple workers identify the structuraldynamics hurting both growers and workers

The US agricultural community grew and prospered on thevalues of a lsquolsquofair returnrsquorsquo for those who risk the most and a lsquolsquodecentwagersquorsquo for a hard dayrsquos work Todayrsquos new global economythreatens to erode these values even further The apple industryis unfair Smaller family-owned farms are going bankruptbecause corporations pay less per box than it costs growers tocultivate and harvest their crops (BCGEU 2001)

Accordingly the UFW is launching its Washington Fair Trade AppleCampaign as an lsquolsquoeconomic collaborationrsquorsquo with family growers andgrower collectives that lsquolsquouses consumer pressure on retailers to paygrowers more for their fruitrsquorsquo (BCGEU 2001) Having identied thegrowersrsquo entrapment in a cost-price squeeze as the root cause ofworkersrsquo problems the union hopes that rather than pitting growersagainst labor both will gain if family apple farmers were to receive a fairprice Guadalupe Gamboa the UFWrsquos National Vice President anddirector of the apple campaign insists that workersrsquo resentment fortheir poor conditions is not directed principally at family growers

[It] is mainly against the packers the companies who are theworst abusers of workers The problem in the past is that familygrowers have identied with the big companies Wersquore trying tobreak that by showing them that theyrsquore more like the workersbecause they donrsquot have any say in the price they get (2002)

The fair trade apple campaign will label apples produced under thisgrower-worker collaboration with the UFWrsquos black eagle symbol(Paynter 2001) The seal will be conditioned upon growersrsquo enteringinto collective bargaining agreements with the UFW guaranteeingbetter wages health and safety guarantees and respect for basic laborlaws (eg workers compensation) In return the union hopes to offersmall growers volume buying long-term contracts and better and moreconsistent prices by bypassing distributors and negotiating directly withmajor grocery chains interested in the seal The fruit will initially besold in the largest west coast citiesmdashincluding Seattle Sacramento

182 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

San Francisco and Los Angelesmdashviewed by the union as lsquolsquosolidaritymarketsrsquorsquo (Gamboa 2002) where recognition of the UFW and sympathyfor farmworker issues run high

Rather than setting a minimum lsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price as in fair trade coffeethe fair trade apple initiative centers upon a living wage and respect forlabor rights much like the lsquolsquoplantation modalityrsquorsquo of the internationalfair trade movement The UFW is asserting that such rights are centralto the trading equation The union draws parallels between fair tradeapples fairly traded coffee and international anti-sweatshop campaignsall of which seek to reform lsquolsquounjustrsquorsquo practices in their respective in-dustries through consumer education and pressure

South-South Initiatives Inclusion

A key question in realizing the promise of fair trade initiatives togenerate greater social equity and justice is their inclusiveness If accessto fair trade markets is constrained by entry barriers such as qualitystandards or competition between producer groups for limited marketdemand the movementrsquos transformative potential will be limitedGoodman and Goodman (2001115) frame clearly the challenge posedby the quality issue

while fair trade organic has opened up lsquolsquospaces of inclusionrsquorsquofor small-scale producers the dictates of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquo act as anexclusionary force at odds with the relational ethic of themovement Many producers typically the poorest in bothresources and natural endowments even if they can meet thecosts of organic certication may be excluded from thenetwork because of the strict quality standards imposed byimporters and suppliers

In addition producing for high-value global niche markets bringsboth opportunities and a new set of demands and complexities for ruralproducers (Ericson 1999) These markets with their concomitantdemands for product consistency quantity quality and timely deliveryand pressures to adapt to ckle consumer tastes and styles can posethreats to community well-being and cohesion particularly in highlytraditional and indigenous communities

The potential for exclusion assert Goodman and Goodman (2001115) extends to the sites of consumption as well as production

the premium attached to fair trade organic [products]makes them high-priced luxury items out of reach of theeveryday purchases of lower-income consumers Nor is theremuch consumption of these products in either the local orregional Southern contexts of their production [ ] new

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 183

institutional mechanisms will be needed to promote moresocially inclusive patterns of sustainable consumption

However there are emerging fair trade initiatives located within theglobal South that provide provocative responses to these very problemsand pose a challenge both to the conceptualization of socially consciousconsumerism and to the balance of power within the fair trademovement Some of the most promising of these initiatives are takingplace in Mexico and we turn now to examining two of them

Comercio Justo Mexico

Mexico was the birthplace of the international fair trade movement in itscurrent form The original fair trade sealmdashMax Havelaarmdashwas created inresponse to the request of organized Mexican coffee producers foraccess on equitable terms and in signi cant quantities to Europeanmarkets For the rst time lsquolsquofairly-producedrsquorsquo commodities were tradedwith suf cient volume to generate real social bene ts for small farmersUnder these fair trade arrangements some coffee and honey producerassociations have realized improvements in social and economicconditions for their families and communities (Pruyn 2001)

However it has become clear that international fair trade sales are notand will not become a panacea even for coffee growers Despite Mexicorsquosstatus as the worldrsquos largest exporter of fair trade coffee (Raynolds 2000)international consumer demand remains far below supply and not allcommunities can afford organic certication or are appropriatelylocated to produce quality high-grown arabica coffeemdashboth virtuallyrequirements to enter the Northern fair trade market Other productssuch as bananas cacao and orange juice are in the very early stages of fairtrade market development The vast majority of peasant farmersmoreover are not even geographically situated to grow these potentiallyhigh-value crops

Mexican civil society groups and organized producer groups came torealize that even with enormous growth fair trade exports could neverconstitute a major development solution in and of themselves Forall but a few of the best organized coffee cooperatives for exampleNorthern fair trade markets represent only a small fraction of theirsales and at best a modest additional increment to producersrsquo incomes

In response these organizations formed Comercio Justo Mexico (FairTrade Mexico) in 1999 with a vision of building a domestic fair trademarket The organization has developed a Mexican fair trade label whichmade its debut in 2001 and is the rst such seal in a Southern nation

[T]hese Mexican small producers do not only sell their goodson the international fair trade market A signi cant part of

184 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

their production continues to be sold in the domestic marketwhich is equally plagued by destructive intermediarism Thesmall producers need our nationrsquos internal market to generatemore just trading relations and they need consumers torecognize their products The lsquolsquoFair Trade Seal of Mexicorsquorsquomakes it possible for these small producers to distinguish theirproducts and allows the consumer to have trust thatmdashwiththeir purchasemdashthey are helping the Mexican farmers most inneed (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001a)

This comprehensive initiative is composed of three separate entitiesComercio Justo Mexico AC (Fair Trade Mexico) is a promotional andeducational group that combines several civil society development NGOsand peasant producer organizations Agromercados SA (Agromarkets)is a marketing body for fair trade products owned by the small producermember organizations (of each speci c product) themselves AndCertimex an independent Mexican organic certier is responsible formonitoring adherence to fair trade criteria Agromercados is establish-ing a chain of coffee shops in numerous cities to promote the sale oforganic and fair trade coffee and has created a single domestic fair tradecoffee brand label (Cafe Fertil) for all its small coffee producer members

With direct participation from grassroots producer groups and civilsociety organizations Comercio Justo has developed a set of general fairtrade criteria based on international standards as well as speci c qualityand certication standards for coffee and is doing the same for fourother products cacao honey handicrafts and basic grains (principallycorn) Comercio Justo stresses that its system is designed for organizedpeasant producers andmdashunlike international fair trade certiersmdashitdoes not intend to develop a separate lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo for plantationagriculture or wage labor

If building demand for fair trade products in the rich North isa formidable task creating a domestic fair trade market in the ThirdWorld would seem a challenge of Herculean proportions HoweverComercio Justo believes that socially conscious consumerism is not re-stricted to those with discretionary incomeThe group insists that by elim-inating intermediaries fairly traded products can be sold at a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo priceto the producer will be competitive with comparable conventionallyproduced goods and can even help address long-standing complaintsabout the quality of domestic products

The low prices paid to small producers on the national marketmean that the best Mexican products are exported Fair Trademakes it possible for small producers to also receive digniedprices in the national market and to not depend exclusively onexport (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001b)

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 185

The group is already selling fair trade labeled Cafe Fertil in mainstreamsupermarkets and restaurants through contracts with large retailersaccompanied by major promotion and consumer education campaignsa strategy that has been key to the success of fair trade coffee bananasand chocolate in Europe

The development of a Southern national fair trade seal also raisesinteresting issues of power and control within the fair trade movementAt stake here is the very potent question of who is empowered to certifywhom in the international fair trade movement Despite the fact thatSouthern producers do participate as members in some internationalfair trade organizations the agenda priorities and criteria for fairtrade have to date been set in the North (Renard 2003 Raynolds 2000)Other authors also note the lsquolsquoasymmetries of power at work in decidingwhat is fairrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001114) The Mexican fairtrade seal says Comercio Justo constitutes a lsquolsquosocial certicationrsquorsquo withone part of civil society certifyingmdashand regulatingmdashanother part of thesociety As such it enrolls both Southern producers and Southernconsumers in the process of (re)constructing what Renard (1999484)calls fair tradersquos lsquolsquosymbolic social meaningrsquorsquo

Fair Trade Tortillerias

One of the partners in the Comercio Justo Mexico network is ANECthe National Association of Peasant Marketing Enterprises ANECwhich represents small- to medium-sized producers of basic grains in 20of Mexicorsquos 31 states is engaged in a separate but related initiative thatspeaks to a key Mexican grievance over lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquomdashthe majorongoing rural crisis precipitated by the opening of the Mexican marketunder NAFTA Low quality imported corn mainly from the US hasundercut even the most ef cient Mexican producers and contributedto the rural exodus to large cities and to the US The quality of tortillashas declined in tandem (with an increasing proportion of dry cornmeal as opposed to whole-ground corn present in even lsquolsquofreshrsquorsquotortillas) and prices have soared as the last federal subsidies and pricecontrols are eliminated (Suarez 2002)

ANECrsquos vision is ambitious a national chain of tortillerias sellingfresh-ground tortillas made with GMO-free Mexican corn grown by theorganizationrsquos members and certied with the Comercio Justo Mexicoseal As of this writing ANEC has opened three tortillerias and hopes toexpand to 20 states by 2005 and nationwide (via franchises) by 2007Victor Suarez ANECrsquos Executive Director asserts that the seal holdsrelevance for domestic consumers

The fair trade seal plays the role of assuring the buyer that thetortilla has a guarantee in all phases of the process [that it

186 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

efforts to in uence federal legislation were important but slow theorganization sought ways to keep small dairy farmers in business in theshort run Family Farm Defendersrsquo leadership met with a localcheesemaker whose small family-owned factory was one of the fewsurviving facilities in what had once been a thriving regional industryAccording to FFD founder Francis Goodman lsquolsquoWe decided to marketa cheese brand based on a fair relationship between trading partnersproviding consumers an opportunity to vote for family dairy farms withtheir food dollars and providing family dairy farmers nancial securityrsquorsquo(Leinberger 19991)

The critical foundations of the Family Farmer Cheese initiative area guaranteed price for milk and a label All cheese sold under theFamily Farmer Cheese label is purchased from farmers at $16 perhundredweight (the market price at the time of writing is around the $9level) Milk is purchased from individual farmers and from the ScenicCentral Milk Producers Co-op another project of FFD Farmers sellingto the project must agree not to use recombinant bovine growthhormone to use sustainable methods of farming and to care foranimals in a humane way Family Farm Defenders and Cedar Grovecheese share marketing and distribution responsibilities and thecheese can be purchased by mail and through retail food cooperativesand natural foods stores throughout southern Wisconsin

The capacity to pay a fair price to farmers ultimately depends on thewillingness of consumers to pay a premium price for the cheese at retailoutlets This willingness is engendered by the cheesersquos distinctive labeland by other educational and outreach materials The FamilyFarmer Cheese label does not refer to fair trade or even fairness Itis distinctive however in its linking of farmers consumers and processor

Family Farm Defenders is a non-pro t organization composedof small family farmers and concerned consumers By choosingFamily Farmer brand you become part of an alliance workingtoward a safe sustainable food production system Our milkcomes from small dairy farmers who use no arti cial growthhormones (Family Farmer Cheese 2000)

Family Farm Defenders is comprised of non-farm citizens as well asfarmers and the organization takes a more systemic perspective than iscommonly encountered in alternative food initiatives Family FarmDefendersrsquo mission statement emphasizes not the virtues of localconsumption but the possibilities inherent in mobilization fordemocratic practice

We adhere to the principle of democracy by empoweringfarmers to speak for and represent themselves in the quest for

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 179

economic justice and responsible sustainable agriculturalpolicies the Family Farm Defenders is dedicated to speakingout against all the forces threatening the long-term survival ofrural America and to preserving a diverse safe and wholesomefood supply at an affordable price for consumers (Family FarmDefenders nd)

Midwest Food Alliance

The initiative that most closely resembles the characteristic criteria-certication-labeling arrangement of international (South-North) fairtrade may be that of the Midwest Food Alliance The Alliance hasestablished a set of lsquolsquoGuiding Principlesrsquorsquo which it uses as a frameworkfor formal third party certication of producers of meat freshvegetables and fruits Farm operations that conform to the guidingprinciples may use the lsquolsquoMidwest Food Alliance Approvedrsquorsquo seal tomarket their products The Alliance is engaged in an extensive programof consumer outreach and education as it attempts to make a placefor Alliance-labeled products in supermarkets in the Minneapolis-St Paul area

Though the superstructure of the Alliance program is similar to thelsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo fair trade model certain core elements of that paradigmare missing That the organizationrsquos literature and web site make noreference at all to lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is not necessarily surprising given thelack of engagement of all the US projects with that particularterminology But the Midwest Food Alliance also avoids an appeal to theneed for a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo or to the survival of small farmers Indeed inAlliance materials it is even dif cult to nd use of the term lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo so liberally deployed by the other initiatives we have reviewedNot only does the Midwest Food Alliance use the unquali ed termlsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo it also focuses more attention on the sustainability ofparticular production practices than on the survivability of particularkinds of farmers Farms should be lsquolsquopro tablersquorsquo but that pro tability isunderstood and presented by the Alliance as a function of effectivepresence in the marketplace and in the demands of consumers and notas an ethical or rights-based claim to a particular price While theproject works hard to create market access for the farmers they certifythe Alliance provides no oor price long-term contracts advancepayment or credit

The Midwest Food alliance is considerably less lsquolsquofarm-centricrsquorsquo thanthe other initiatives pro led here And paradoxically perhaps becauseof that orientation the project nds it appropriate to include theinterests of labor and the wider community in the guiding principles

180 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

which shape its certication process In addition to eight principlesrelating to agronomic and conservation practices farmers certi ed bythe Alliance must adhere to the following social axiom

Providing safe and fair working conditions for our employeesand our families For example we develop farm policies inorder to establish open channels for communicating workplacesafety and satisfaction We incorporate quality of life issuesinto our daily decision making process for ourselves ourfamilies our employees and our broader communities (Mid-west Food Alliance nd)

Without seeing the individual farm plans that must be drawn up forcerti ers it is dif cult to know how such generalities translate intoconcrete actions Still inclusion of what the Alliance calls lsquolsquohumanresource developmentrsquorsquo in its criteria is an important step towarda version of North-North fair trade that envisions justice for socialsectors beyond the lsquolsquofamily farmrsquorsquo

UFW Fair Trade Apple Campaign

If the Midwest Food Alliance has begun to address the interests andconcerns of agricultural workers the Fair Trade Apple Campaign of theUnited Farm Workers (UFW) union actually privileges labor as theprojectrsquos point of departure The UFW is well known for its efforts onbehalf of farm workersmdashparticularly the California grape boycottsmdashand has long sought to connect consumers to workersrsquo struggle for justtreatment in the nationrsquos fruit and vegetable elds The UFWrsquos base inLatino farmworker communities and its involvement in cross-borderlabor solidarity give the term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo an appealing resonance forthe UFW and the organization is explicit in terming its nascentinitiative the lsquolsquoWashington Fair Trade Apple Campaign (WAFTA)rsquorsquo

The apple industry is a highly globalized market Imported applesfrom Chile New Zealand and South Africa now compete intensely withthose grown in Washington and other states Washingtonrsquos familygrowers still the large majority of apple farmers are besieged bya combination of forces Consolidation in packing and distributionretail sourcing practices favoring the largest growers and delays of 12 to18 months in payment for their fruit have eroded growersrsquo market powerand pushed them into debilitating debt cycles (Jarosz and Qazi 20005ndash6Gamboa 2002) Growers receive only 11 percent of what consumers payat retail even though the retail pro t margin on apples is 32 percenthigher than for virtually any other grocery item (UFW 2001)

Squeezed from above small family apple growers often pass the painon to their workforce The statersquos apple workersmdashover 80 percent of

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 181

Mexican origin and often undocumentedmdashtake home an averageyearly salary of $7654 far below the poverty line (Jarosz and Qazi 2000BCGEU 2001) In both orchards and packing houses unions say thatworkers face discrimination are denied the right to organize andbargain collectively and do not enjoy health and safety protectionsguaranteed by state law (UFW 2001) Indeed the Washington appleindustry today remains 100 percent non-union (Gamboa 2002) Ratherthan focus their attention solely on laborrsquos immediate employersunions hoping to organize apple workers identify the structuraldynamics hurting both growers and workers

The US agricultural community grew and prospered on thevalues of a lsquolsquofair returnrsquorsquo for those who risk the most and a lsquolsquodecentwagersquorsquo for a hard dayrsquos work Todayrsquos new global economythreatens to erode these values even further The apple industryis unfair Smaller family-owned farms are going bankruptbecause corporations pay less per box than it costs growers tocultivate and harvest their crops (BCGEU 2001)

Accordingly the UFW is launching its Washington Fair Trade AppleCampaign as an lsquolsquoeconomic collaborationrsquorsquo with family growers andgrower collectives that lsquolsquouses consumer pressure on retailers to paygrowers more for their fruitrsquorsquo (BCGEU 2001) Having identied thegrowersrsquo entrapment in a cost-price squeeze as the root cause ofworkersrsquo problems the union hopes that rather than pitting growersagainst labor both will gain if family apple farmers were to receive a fairprice Guadalupe Gamboa the UFWrsquos National Vice President anddirector of the apple campaign insists that workersrsquo resentment fortheir poor conditions is not directed principally at family growers

[It] is mainly against the packers the companies who are theworst abusers of workers The problem in the past is that familygrowers have identied with the big companies Wersquore trying tobreak that by showing them that theyrsquore more like the workersbecause they donrsquot have any say in the price they get (2002)

The fair trade apple campaign will label apples produced under thisgrower-worker collaboration with the UFWrsquos black eagle symbol(Paynter 2001) The seal will be conditioned upon growersrsquo enteringinto collective bargaining agreements with the UFW guaranteeingbetter wages health and safety guarantees and respect for basic laborlaws (eg workers compensation) In return the union hopes to offersmall growers volume buying long-term contracts and better and moreconsistent prices by bypassing distributors and negotiating directly withmajor grocery chains interested in the seal The fruit will initially besold in the largest west coast citiesmdashincluding Seattle Sacramento

182 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

San Francisco and Los Angelesmdashviewed by the union as lsquolsquosolidaritymarketsrsquorsquo (Gamboa 2002) where recognition of the UFW and sympathyfor farmworker issues run high

Rather than setting a minimum lsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price as in fair trade coffeethe fair trade apple initiative centers upon a living wage and respect forlabor rights much like the lsquolsquoplantation modalityrsquorsquo of the internationalfair trade movement The UFW is asserting that such rights are centralto the trading equation The union draws parallels between fair tradeapples fairly traded coffee and international anti-sweatshop campaignsall of which seek to reform lsquolsquounjustrsquorsquo practices in their respective in-dustries through consumer education and pressure

South-South Initiatives Inclusion

A key question in realizing the promise of fair trade initiatives togenerate greater social equity and justice is their inclusiveness If accessto fair trade markets is constrained by entry barriers such as qualitystandards or competition between producer groups for limited marketdemand the movementrsquos transformative potential will be limitedGoodman and Goodman (2001115) frame clearly the challenge posedby the quality issue

while fair trade organic has opened up lsquolsquospaces of inclusionrsquorsquofor small-scale producers the dictates of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquo act as anexclusionary force at odds with the relational ethic of themovement Many producers typically the poorest in bothresources and natural endowments even if they can meet thecosts of organic certication may be excluded from thenetwork because of the strict quality standards imposed byimporters and suppliers

In addition producing for high-value global niche markets bringsboth opportunities and a new set of demands and complexities for ruralproducers (Ericson 1999) These markets with their concomitantdemands for product consistency quantity quality and timely deliveryand pressures to adapt to ckle consumer tastes and styles can posethreats to community well-being and cohesion particularly in highlytraditional and indigenous communities

The potential for exclusion assert Goodman and Goodman (2001115) extends to the sites of consumption as well as production

the premium attached to fair trade organic [products]makes them high-priced luxury items out of reach of theeveryday purchases of lower-income consumers Nor is theremuch consumption of these products in either the local orregional Southern contexts of their production [ ] new

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 183

institutional mechanisms will be needed to promote moresocially inclusive patterns of sustainable consumption

However there are emerging fair trade initiatives located within theglobal South that provide provocative responses to these very problemsand pose a challenge both to the conceptualization of socially consciousconsumerism and to the balance of power within the fair trademovement Some of the most promising of these initiatives are takingplace in Mexico and we turn now to examining two of them

Comercio Justo Mexico

Mexico was the birthplace of the international fair trade movement in itscurrent form The original fair trade sealmdashMax Havelaarmdashwas created inresponse to the request of organized Mexican coffee producers foraccess on equitable terms and in signi cant quantities to Europeanmarkets For the rst time lsquolsquofairly-producedrsquorsquo commodities were tradedwith suf cient volume to generate real social bene ts for small farmersUnder these fair trade arrangements some coffee and honey producerassociations have realized improvements in social and economicconditions for their families and communities (Pruyn 2001)

However it has become clear that international fair trade sales are notand will not become a panacea even for coffee growers Despite Mexicorsquosstatus as the worldrsquos largest exporter of fair trade coffee (Raynolds 2000)international consumer demand remains far below supply and not allcommunities can afford organic certication or are appropriatelylocated to produce quality high-grown arabica coffeemdashboth virtuallyrequirements to enter the Northern fair trade market Other productssuch as bananas cacao and orange juice are in the very early stages of fairtrade market development The vast majority of peasant farmersmoreover are not even geographically situated to grow these potentiallyhigh-value crops

Mexican civil society groups and organized producer groups came torealize that even with enormous growth fair trade exports could neverconstitute a major development solution in and of themselves Forall but a few of the best organized coffee cooperatives for exampleNorthern fair trade markets represent only a small fraction of theirsales and at best a modest additional increment to producersrsquo incomes

In response these organizations formed Comercio Justo Mexico (FairTrade Mexico) in 1999 with a vision of building a domestic fair trademarket The organization has developed a Mexican fair trade label whichmade its debut in 2001 and is the rst such seal in a Southern nation

[T]hese Mexican small producers do not only sell their goodson the international fair trade market A signi cant part of

184 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

their production continues to be sold in the domestic marketwhich is equally plagued by destructive intermediarism Thesmall producers need our nationrsquos internal market to generatemore just trading relations and they need consumers torecognize their products The lsquolsquoFair Trade Seal of Mexicorsquorsquomakes it possible for these small producers to distinguish theirproducts and allows the consumer to have trust thatmdashwiththeir purchasemdashthey are helping the Mexican farmers most inneed (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001a)

This comprehensive initiative is composed of three separate entitiesComercio Justo Mexico AC (Fair Trade Mexico) is a promotional andeducational group that combines several civil society development NGOsand peasant producer organizations Agromercados SA (Agromarkets)is a marketing body for fair trade products owned by the small producermember organizations (of each speci c product) themselves AndCertimex an independent Mexican organic certier is responsible formonitoring adherence to fair trade criteria Agromercados is establish-ing a chain of coffee shops in numerous cities to promote the sale oforganic and fair trade coffee and has created a single domestic fair tradecoffee brand label (Cafe Fertil) for all its small coffee producer members

With direct participation from grassroots producer groups and civilsociety organizations Comercio Justo has developed a set of general fairtrade criteria based on international standards as well as speci c qualityand certication standards for coffee and is doing the same for fourother products cacao honey handicrafts and basic grains (principallycorn) Comercio Justo stresses that its system is designed for organizedpeasant producers andmdashunlike international fair trade certiersmdashitdoes not intend to develop a separate lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo for plantationagriculture or wage labor

If building demand for fair trade products in the rich North isa formidable task creating a domestic fair trade market in the ThirdWorld would seem a challenge of Herculean proportions HoweverComercio Justo believes that socially conscious consumerism is not re-stricted to those with discretionary incomeThe group insists that by elim-inating intermediaries fairly traded products can be sold at a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo priceto the producer will be competitive with comparable conventionallyproduced goods and can even help address long-standing complaintsabout the quality of domestic products

The low prices paid to small producers on the national marketmean that the best Mexican products are exported Fair Trademakes it possible for small producers to also receive digniedprices in the national market and to not depend exclusively onexport (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001b)

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 185

The group is already selling fair trade labeled Cafe Fertil in mainstreamsupermarkets and restaurants through contracts with large retailersaccompanied by major promotion and consumer education campaignsa strategy that has been key to the success of fair trade coffee bananasand chocolate in Europe

The development of a Southern national fair trade seal also raisesinteresting issues of power and control within the fair trade movementAt stake here is the very potent question of who is empowered to certifywhom in the international fair trade movement Despite the fact thatSouthern producers do participate as members in some internationalfair trade organizations the agenda priorities and criteria for fairtrade have to date been set in the North (Renard 2003 Raynolds 2000)Other authors also note the lsquolsquoasymmetries of power at work in decidingwhat is fairrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001114) The Mexican fairtrade seal says Comercio Justo constitutes a lsquolsquosocial certicationrsquorsquo withone part of civil society certifyingmdashand regulatingmdashanother part of thesociety As such it enrolls both Southern producers and Southernconsumers in the process of (re)constructing what Renard (1999484)calls fair tradersquos lsquolsquosymbolic social meaningrsquorsquo

Fair Trade Tortillerias

One of the partners in the Comercio Justo Mexico network is ANECthe National Association of Peasant Marketing Enterprises ANECwhich represents small- to medium-sized producers of basic grains in 20of Mexicorsquos 31 states is engaged in a separate but related initiative thatspeaks to a key Mexican grievance over lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquomdashthe majorongoing rural crisis precipitated by the opening of the Mexican marketunder NAFTA Low quality imported corn mainly from the US hasundercut even the most ef cient Mexican producers and contributedto the rural exodus to large cities and to the US The quality of tortillashas declined in tandem (with an increasing proportion of dry cornmeal as opposed to whole-ground corn present in even lsquolsquofreshrsquorsquotortillas) and prices have soared as the last federal subsidies and pricecontrols are eliminated (Suarez 2002)

ANECrsquos vision is ambitious a national chain of tortillerias sellingfresh-ground tortillas made with GMO-free Mexican corn grown by theorganizationrsquos members and certied with the Comercio Justo Mexicoseal As of this writing ANEC has opened three tortillerias and hopes toexpand to 20 states by 2005 and nationwide (via franchises) by 2007Victor Suarez ANECrsquos Executive Director asserts that the seal holdsrelevance for domestic consumers

The fair trade seal plays the role of assuring the buyer that thetortilla has a guarantee in all phases of the process [that it

186 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

economic justice and responsible sustainable agriculturalpolicies the Family Farm Defenders is dedicated to speakingout against all the forces threatening the long-term survival ofrural America and to preserving a diverse safe and wholesomefood supply at an affordable price for consumers (Family FarmDefenders nd)

Midwest Food Alliance

The initiative that most closely resembles the characteristic criteria-certication-labeling arrangement of international (South-North) fairtrade may be that of the Midwest Food Alliance The Alliance hasestablished a set of lsquolsquoGuiding Principlesrsquorsquo which it uses as a frameworkfor formal third party certication of producers of meat freshvegetables and fruits Farm operations that conform to the guidingprinciples may use the lsquolsquoMidwest Food Alliance Approvedrsquorsquo seal tomarket their products The Alliance is engaged in an extensive programof consumer outreach and education as it attempts to make a placefor Alliance-labeled products in supermarkets in the Minneapolis-St Paul area

Though the superstructure of the Alliance program is similar to thelsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo fair trade model certain core elements of that paradigmare missing That the organizationrsquos literature and web site make noreference at all to lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is not necessarily surprising given thelack of engagement of all the US projects with that particularterminology But the Midwest Food Alliance also avoids an appeal to theneed for a lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo or to the survival of small farmers Indeed inAlliance materials it is even dif cult to nd use of the term lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo so liberally deployed by the other initiatives we have reviewedNot only does the Midwest Food Alliance use the unquali ed termlsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo it also focuses more attention on the sustainability ofparticular production practices than on the survivability of particularkinds of farmers Farms should be lsquolsquopro tablersquorsquo but that pro tability isunderstood and presented by the Alliance as a function of effectivepresence in the marketplace and in the demands of consumers and notas an ethical or rights-based claim to a particular price While theproject works hard to create market access for the farmers they certifythe Alliance provides no oor price long-term contracts advancepayment or credit

The Midwest Food alliance is considerably less lsquolsquofarm-centricrsquorsquo thanthe other initiatives pro led here And paradoxically perhaps becauseof that orientation the project nds it appropriate to include theinterests of labor and the wider community in the guiding principles

180 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

which shape its certication process In addition to eight principlesrelating to agronomic and conservation practices farmers certi ed bythe Alliance must adhere to the following social axiom

Providing safe and fair working conditions for our employeesand our families For example we develop farm policies inorder to establish open channels for communicating workplacesafety and satisfaction We incorporate quality of life issuesinto our daily decision making process for ourselves ourfamilies our employees and our broader communities (Mid-west Food Alliance nd)

Without seeing the individual farm plans that must be drawn up forcerti ers it is dif cult to know how such generalities translate intoconcrete actions Still inclusion of what the Alliance calls lsquolsquohumanresource developmentrsquorsquo in its criteria is an important step towarda version of North-North fair trade that envisions justice for socialsectors beyond the lsquolsquofamily farmrsquorsquo

UFW Fair Trade Apple Campaign

If the Midwest Food Alliance has begun to address the interests andconcerns of agricultural workers the Fair Trade Apple Campaign of theUnited Farm Workers (UFW) union actually privileges labor as theprojectrsquos point of departure The UFW is well known for its efforts onbehalf of farm workersmdashparticularly the California grape boycottsmdashand has long sought to connect consumers to workersrsquo struggle for justtreatment in the nationrsquos fruit and vegetable elds The UFWrsquos base inLatino farmworker communities and its involvement in cross-borderlabor solidarity give the term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo an appealing resonance forthe UFW and the organization is explicit in terming its nascentinitiative the lsquolsquoWashington Fair Trade Apple Campaign (WAFTA)rsquorsquo

The apple industry is a highly globalized market Imported applesfrom Chile New Zealand and South Africa now compete intensely withthose grown in Washington and other states Washingtonrsquos familygrowers still the large majority of apple farmers are besieged bya combination of forces Consolidation in packing and distributionretail sourcing practices favoring the largest growers and delays of 12 to18 months in payment for their fruit have eroded growersrsquo market powerand pushed them into debilitating debt cycles (Jarosz and Qazi 20005ndash6Gamboa 2002) Growers receive only 11 percent of what consumers payat retail even though the retail pro t margin on apples is 32 percenthigher than for virtually any other grocery item (UFW 2001)

Squeezed from above small family apple growers often pass the painon to their workforce The statersquos apple workersmdashover 80 percent of

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 181

Mexican origin and often undocumentedmdashtake home an averageyearly salary of $7654 far below the poverty line (Jarosz and Qazi 2000BCGEU 2001) In both orchards and packing houses unions say thatworkers face discrimination are denied the right to organize andbargain collectively and do not enjoy health and safety protectionsguaranteed by state law (UFW 2001) Indeed the Washington appleindustry today remains 100 percent non-union (Gamboa 2002) Ratherthan focus their attention solely on laborrsquos immediate employersunions hoping to organize apple workers identify the structuraldynamics hurting both growers and workers

The US agricultural community grew and prospered on thevalues of a lsquolsquofair returnrsquorsquo for those who risk the most and a lsquolsquodecentwagersquorsquo for a hard dayrsquos work Todayrsquos new global economythreatens to erode these values even further The apple industryis unfair Smaller family-owned farms are going bankruptbecause corporations pay less per box than it costs growers tocultivate and harvest their crops (BCGEU 2001)

Accordingly the UFW is launching its Washington Fair Trade AppleCampaign as an lsquolsquoeconomic collaborationrsquorsquo with family growers andgrower collectives that lsquolsquouses consumer pressure on retailers to paygrowers more for their fruitrsquorsquo (BCGEU 2001) Having identied thegrowersrsquo entrapment in a cost-price squeeze as the root cause ofworkersrsquo problems the union hopes that rather than pitting growersagainst labor both will gain if family apple farmers were to receive a fairprice Guadalupe Gamboa the UFWrsquos National Vice President anddirector of the apple campaign insists that workersrsquo resentment fortheir poor conditions is not directed principally at family growers

[It] is mainly against the packers the companies who are theworst abusers of workers The problem in the past is that familygrowers have identied with the big companies Wersquore trying tobreak that by showing them that theyrsquore more like the workersbecause they donrsquot have any say in the price they get (2002)

The fair trade apple campaign will label apples produced under thisgrower-worker collaboration with the UFWrsquos black eagle symbol(Paynter 2001) The seal will be conditioned upon growersrsquo enteringinto collective bargaining agreements with the UFW guaranteeingbetter wages health and safety guarantees and respect for basic laborlaws (eg workers compensation) In return the union hopes to offersmall growers volume buying long-term contracts and better and moreconsistent prices by bypassing distributors and negotiating directly withmajor grocery chains interested in the seal The fruit will initially besold in the largest west coast citiesmdashincluding Seattle Sacramento

182 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

San Francisco and Los Angelesmdashviewed by the union as lsquolsquosolidaritymarketsrsquorsquo (Gamboa 2002) where recognition of the UFW and sympathyfor farmworker issues run high

Rather than setting a minimum lsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price as in fair trade coffeethe fair trade apple initiative centers upon a living wage and respect forlabor rights much like the lsquolsquoplantation modalityrsquorsquo of the internationalfair trade movement The UFW is asserting that such rights are centralto the trading equation The union draws parallels between fair tradeapples fairly traded coffee and international anti-sweatshop campaignsall of which seek to reform lsquolsquounjustrsquorsquo practices in their respective in-dustries through consumer education and pressure

South-South Initiatives Inclusion

A key question in realizing the promise of fair trade initiatives togenerate greater social equity and justice is their inclusiveness If accessto fair trade markets is constrained by entry barriers such as qualitystandards or competition between producer groups for limited marketdemand the movementrsquos transformative potential will be limitedGoodman and Goodman (2001115) frame clearly the challenge posedby the quality issue

while fair trade organic has opened up lsquolsquospaces of inclusionrsquorsquofor small-scale producers the dictates of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquo act as anexclusionary force at odds with the relational ethic of themovement Many producers typically the poorest in bothresources and natural endowments even if they can meet thecosts of organic certication may be excluded from thenetwork because of the strict quality standards imposed byimporters and suppliers

In addition producing for high-value global niche markets bringsboth opportunities and a new set of demands and complexities for ruralproducers (Ericson 1999) These markets with their concomitantdemands for product consistency quantity quality and timely deliveryand pressures to adapt to ckle consumer tastes and styles can posethreats to community well-being and cohesion particularly in highlytraditional and indigenous communities

The potential for exclusion assert Goodman and Goodman (2001115) extends to the sites of consumption as well as production

the premium attached to fair trade organic [products]makes them high-priced luxury items out of reach of theeveryday purchases of lower-income consumers Nor is theremuch consumption of these products in either the local orregional Southern contexts of their production [ ] new

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 183

institutional mechanisms will be needed to promote moresocially inclusive patterns of sustainable consumption

However there are emerging fair trade initiatives located within theglobal South that provide provocative responses to these very problemsand pose a challenge both to the conceptualization of socially consciousconsumerism and to the balance of power within the fair trademovement Some of the most promising of these initiatives are takingplace in Mexico and we turn now to examining two of them

Comercio Justo Mexico

Mexico was the birthplace of the international fair trade movement in itscurrent form The original fair trade sealmdashMax Havelaarmdashwas created inresponse to the request of organized Mexican coffee producers foraccess on equitable terms and in signi cant quantities to Europeanmarkets For the rst time lsquolsquofairly-producedrsquorsquo commodities were tradedwith suf cient volume to generate real social bene ts for small farmersUnder these fair trade arrangements some coffee and honey producerassociations have realized improvements in social and economicconditions for their families and communities (Pruyn 2001)

However it has become clear that international fair trade sales are notand will not become a panacea even for coffee growers Despite Mexicorsquosstatus as the worldrsquos largest exporter of fair trade coffee (Raynolds 2000)international consumer demand remains far below supply and not allcommunities can afford organic certication or are appropriatelylocated to produce quality high-grown arabica coffeemdashboth virtuallyrequirements to enter the Northern fair trade market Other productssuch as bananas cacao and orange juice are in the very early stages of fairtrade market development The vast majority of peasant farmersmoreover are not even geographically situated to grow these potentiallyhigh-value crops

Mexican civil society groups and organized producer groups came torealize that even with enormous growth fair trade exports could neverconstitute a major development solution in and of themselves Forall but a few of the best organized coffee cooperatives for exampleNorthern fair trade markets represent only a small fraction of theirsales and at best a modest additional increment to producersrsquo incomes

In response these organizations formed Comercio Justo Mexico (FairTrade Mexico) in 1999 with a vision of building a domestic fair trademarket The organization has developed a Mexican fair trade label whichmade its debut in 2001 and is the rst such seal in a Southern nation

[T]hese Mexican small producers do not only sell their goodson the international fair trade market A signi cant part of

184 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

their production continues to be sold in the domestic marketwhich is equally plagued by destructive intermediarism Thesmall producers need our nationrsquos internal market to generatemore just trading relations and they need consumers torecognize their products The lsquolsquoFair Trade Seal of Mexicorsquorsquomakes it possible for these small producers to distinguish theirproducts and allows the consumer to have trust thatmdashwiththeir purchasemdashthey are helping the Mexican farmers most inneed (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001a)

This comprehensive initiative is composed of three separate entitiesComercio Justo Mexico AC (Fair Trade Mexico) is a promotional andeducational group that combines several civil society development NGOsand peasant producer organizations Agromercados SA (Agromarkets)is a marketing body for fair trade products owned by the small producermember organizations (of each speci c product) themselves AndCertimex an independent Mexican organic certier is responsible formonitoring adherence to fair trade criteria Agromercados is establish-ing a chain of coffee shops in numerous cities to promote the sale oforganic and fair trade coffee and has created a single domestic fair tradecoffee brand label (Cafe Fertil) for all its small coffee producer members

With direct participation from grassroots producer groups and civilsociety organizations Comercio Justo has developed a set of general fairtrade criteria based on international standards as well as speci c qualityand certication standards for coffee and is doing the same for fourother products cacao honey handicrafts and basic grains (principallycorn) Comercio Justo stresses that its system is designed for organizedpeasant producers andmdashunlike international fair trade certiersmdashitdoes not intend to develop a separate lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo for plantationagriculture or wage labor

If building demand for fair trade products in the rich North isa formidable task creating a domestic fair trade market in the ThirdWorld would seem a challenge of Herculean proportions HoweverComercio Justo believes that socially conscious consumerism is not re-stricted to those with discretionary incomeThe group insists that by elim-inating intermediaries fairly traded products can be sold at a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo priceto the producer will be competitive with comparable conventionallyproduced goods and can even help address long-standing complaintsabout the quality of domestic products

The low prices paid to small producers on the national marketmean that the best Mexican products are exported Fair Trademakes it possible for small producers to also receive digniedprices in the national market and to not depend exclusively onexport (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001b)

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 185

The group is already selling fair trade labeled Cafe Fertil in mainstreamsupermarkets and restaurants through contracts with large retailersaccompanied by major promotion and consumer education campaignsa strategy that has been key to the success of fair trade coffee bananasand chocolate in Europe

The development of a Southern national fair trade seal also raisesinteresting issues of power and control within the fair trade movementAt stake here is the very potent question of who is empowered to certifywhom in the international fair trade movement Despite the fact thatSouthern producers do participate as members in some internationalfair trade organizations the agenda priorities and criteria for fairtrade have to date been set in the North (Renard 2003 Raynolds 2000)Other authors also note the lsquolsquoasymmetries of power at work in decidingwhat is fairrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001114) The Mexican fairtrade seal says Comercio Justo constitutes a lsquolsquosocial certicationrsquorsquo withone part of civil society certifyingmdashand regulatingmdashanother part of thesociety As such it enrolls both Southern producers and Southernconsumers in the process of (re)constructing what Renard (1999484)calls fair tradersquos lsquolsquosymbolic social meaningrsquorsquo

Fair Trade Tortillerias

One of the partners in the Comercio Justo Mexico network is ANECthe National Association of Peasant Marketing Enterprises ANECwhich represents small- to medium-sized producers of basic grains in 20of Mexicorsquos 31 states is engaged in a separate but related initiative thatspeaks to a key Mexican grievance over lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquomdashthe majorongoing rural crisis precipitated by the opening of the Mexican marketunder NAFTA Low quality imported corn mainly from the US hasundercut even the most ef cient Mexican producers and contributedto the rural exodus to large cities and to the US The quality of tortillashas declined in tandem (with an increasing proportion of dry cornmeal as opposed to whole-ground corn present in even lsquolsquofreshrsquorsquotortillas) and prices have soared as the last federal subsidies and pricecontrols are eliminated (Suarez 2002)

ANECrsquos vision is ambitious a national chain of tortillerias sellingfresh-ground tortillas made with GMO-free Mexican corn grown by theorganizationrsquos members and certied with the Comercio Justo Mexicoseal As of this writing ANEC has opened three tortillerias and hopes toexpand to 20 states by 2005 and nationwide (via franchises) by 2007Victor Suarez ANECrsquos Executive Director asserts that the seal holdsrelevance for domestic consumers

The fair trade seal plays the role of assuring the buyer that thetortilla has a guarantee in all phases of the process [that it

186 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

which shape its certication process In addition to eight principlesrelating to agronomic and conservation practices farmers certi ed bythe Alliance must adhere to the following social axiom

Providing safe and fair working conditions for our employeesand our families For example we develop farm policies inorder to establish open channels for communicating workplacesafety and satisfaction We incorporate quality of life issuesinto our daily decision making process for ourselves ourfamilies our employees and our broader communities (Mid-west Food Alliance nd)

Without seeing the individual farm plans that must be drawn up forcerti ers it is dif cult to know how such generalities translate intoconcrete actions Still inclusion of what the Alliance calls lsquolsquohumanresource developmentrsquorsquo in its criteria is an important step towarda version of North-North fair trade that envisions justice for socialsectors beyond the lsquolsquofamily farmrsquorsquo

UFW Fair Trade Apple Campaign

If the Midwest Food Alliance has begun to address the interests andconcerns of agricultural workers the Fair Trade Apple Campaign of theUnited Farm Workers (UFW) union actually privileges labor as theprojectrsquos point of departure The UFW is well known for its efforts onbehalf of farm workersmdashparticularly the California grape boycottsmdashand has long sought to connect consumers to workersrsquo struggle for justtreatment in the nationrsquos fruit and vegetable elds The UFWrsquos base inLatino farmworker communities and its involvement in cross-borderlabor solidarity give the term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo an appealing resonance forthe UFW and the organization is explicit in terming its nascentinitiative the lsquolsquoWashington Fair Trade Apple Campaign (WAFTA)rsquorsquo

The apple industry is a highly globalized market Imported applesfrom Chile New Zealand and South Africa now compete intensely withthose grown in Washington and other states Washingtonrsquos familygrowers still the large majority of apple farmers are besieged bya combination of forces Consolidation in packing and distributionretail sourcing practices favoring the largest growers and delays of 12 to18 months in payment for their fruit have eroded growersrsquo market powerand pushed them into debilitating debt cycles (Jarosz and Qazi 20005ndash6Gamboa 2002) Growers receive only 11 percent of what consumers payat retail even though the retail pro t margin on apples is 32 percenthigher than for virtually any other grocery item (UFW 2001)

Squeezed from above small family apple growers often pass the painon to their workforce The statersquos apple workersmdashover 80 percent of

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 181

Mexican origin and often undocumentedmdashtake home an averageyearly salary of $7654 far below the poverty line (Jarosz and Qazi 2000BCGEU 2001) In both orchards and packing houses unions say thatworkers face discrimination are denied the right to organize andbargain collectively and do not enjoy health and safety protectionsguaranteed by state law (UFW 2001) Indeed the Washington appleindustry today remains 100 percent non-union (Gamboa 2002) Ratherthan focus their attention solely on laborrsquos immediate employersunions hoping to organize apple workers identify the structuraldynamics hurting both growers and workers

The US agricultural community grew and prospered on thevalues of a lsquolsquofair returnrsquorsquo for those who risk the most and a lsquolsquodecentwagersquorsquo for a hard dayrsquos work Todayrsquos new global economythreatens to erode these values even further The apple industryis unfair Smaller family-owned farms are going bankruptbecause corporations pay less per box than it costs growers tocultivate and harvest their crops (BCGEU 2001)

Accordingly the UFW is launching its Washington Fair Trade AppleCampaign as an lsquolsquoeconomic collaborationrsquorsquo with family growers andgrower collectives that lsquolsquouses consumer pressure on retailers to paygrowers more for their fruitrsquorsquo (BCGEU 2001) Having identied thegrowersrsquo entrapment in a cost-price squeeze as the root cause ofworkersrsquo problems the union hopes that rather than pitting growersagainst labor both will gain if family apple farmers were to receive a fairprice Guadalupe Gamboa the UFWrsquos National Vice President anddirector of the apple campaign insists that workersrsquo resentment fortheir poor conditions is not directed principally at family growers

[It] is mainly against the packers the companies who are theworst abusers of workers The problem in the past is that familygrowers have identied with the big companies Wersquore trying tobreak that by showing them that theyrsquore more like the workersbecause they donrsquot have any say in the price they get (2002)

The fair trade apple campaign will label apples produced under thisgrower-worker collaboration with the UFWrsquos black eagle symbol(Paynter 2001) The seal will be conditioned upon growersrsquo enteringinto collective bargaining agreements with the UFW guaranteeingbetter wages health and safety guarantees and respect for basic laborlaws (eg workers compensation) In return the union hopes to offersmall growers volume buying long-term contracts and better and moreconsistent prices by bypassing distributors and negotiating directly withmajor grocery chains interested in the seal The fruit will initially besold in the largest west coast citiesmdashincluding Seattle Sacramento

182 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

San Francisco and Los Angelesmdashviewed by the union as lsquolsquosolidaritymarketsrsquorsquo (Gamboa 2002) where recognition of the UFW and sympathyfor farmworker issues run high

Rather than setting a minimum lsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price as in fair trade coffeethe fair trade apple initiative centers upon a living wage and respect forlabor rights much like the lsquolsquoplantation modalityrsquorsquo of the internationalfair trade movement The UFW is asserting that such rights are centralto the trading equation The union draws parallels between fair tradeapples fairly traded coffee and international anti-sweatshop campaignsall of which seek to reform lsquolsquounjustrsquorsquo practices in their respective in-dustries through consumer education and pressure

South-South Initiatives Inclusion

A key question in realizing the promise of fair trade initiatives togenerate greater social equity and justice is their inclusiveness If accessto fair trade markets is constrained by entry barriers such as qualitystandards or competition between producer groups for limited marketdemand the movementrsquos transformative potential will be limitedGoodman and Goodman (2001115) frame clearly the challenge posedby the quality issue

while fair trade organic has opened up lsquolsquospaces of inclusionrsquorsquofor small-scale producers the dictates of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquo act as anexclusionary force at odds with the relational ethic of themovement Many producers typically the poorest in bothresources and natural endowments even if they can meet thecosts of organic certication may be excluded from thenetwork because of the strict quality standards imposed byimporters and suppliers

In addition producing for high-value global niche markets bringsboth opportunities and a new set of demands and complexities for ruralproducers (Ericson 1999) These markets with their concomitantdemands for product consistency quantity quality and timely deliveryand pressures to adapt to ckle consumer tastes and styles can posethreats to community well-being and cohesion particularly in highlytraditional and indigenous communities

The potential for exclusion assert Goodman and Goodman (2001115) extends to the sites of consumption as well as production

the premium attached to fair trade organic [products]makes them high-priced luxury items out of reach of theeveryday purchases of lower-income consumers Nor is theremuch consumption of these products in either the local orregional Southern contexts of their production [ ] new

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 183

institutional mechanisms will be needed to promote moresocially inclusive patterns of sustainable consumption

However there are emerging fair trade initiatives located within theglobal South that provide provocative responses to these very problemsand pose a challenge both to the conceptualization of socially consciousconsumerism and to the balance of power within the fair trademovement Some of the most promising of these initiatives are takingplace in Mexico and we turn now to examining two of them

Comercio Justo Mexico

Mexico was the birthplace of the international fair trade movement in itscurrent form The original fair trade sealmdashMax Havelaarmdashwas created inresponse to the request of organized Mexican coffee producers foraccess on equitable terms and in signi cant quantities to Europeanmarkets For the rst time lsquolsquofairly-producedrsquorsquo commodities were tradedwith suf cient volume to generate real social bene ts for small farmersUnder these fair trade arrangements some coffee and honey producerassociations have realized improvements in social and economicconditions for their families and communities (Pruyn 2001)

However it has become clear that international fair trade sales are notand will not become a panacea even for coffee growers Despite Mexicorsquosstatus as the worldrsquos largest exporter of fair trade coffee (Raynolds 2000)international consumer demand remains far below supply and not allcommunities can afford organic certication or are appropriatelylocated to produce quality high-grown arabica coffeemdashboth virtuallyrequirements to enter the Northern fair trade market Other productssuch as bananas cacao and orange juice are in the very early stages of fairtrade market development The vast majority of peasant farmersmoreover are not even geographically situated to grow these potentiallyhigh-value crops

Mexican civil society groups and organized producer groups came torealize that even with enormous growth fair trade exports could neverconstitute a major development solution in and of themselves Forall but a few of the best organized coffee cooperatives for exampleNorthern fair trade markets represent only a small fraction of theirsales and at best a modest additional increment to producersrsquo incomes

In response these organizations formed Comercio Justo Mexico (FairTrade Mexico) in 1999 with a vision of building a domestic fair trademarket The organization has developed a Mexican fair trade label whichmade its debut in 2001 and is the rst such seal in a Southern nation

[T]hese Mexican small producers do not only sell their goodson the international fair trade market A signi cant part of

184 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

their production continues to be sold in the domestic marketwhich is equally plagued by destructive intermediarism Thesmall producers need our nationrsquos internal market to generatemore just trading relations and they need consumers torecognize their products The lsquolsquoFair Trade Seal of Mexicorsquorsquomakes it possible for these small producers to distinguish theirproducts and allows the consumer to have trust thatmdashwiththeir purchasemdashthey are helping the Mexican farmers most inneed (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001a)

This comprehensive initiative is composed of three separate entitiesComercio Justo Mexico AC (Fair Trade Mexico) is a promotional andeducational group that combines several civil society development NGOsand peasant producer organizations Agromercados SA (Agromarkets)is a marketing body for fair trade products owned by the small producermember organizations (of each speci c product) themselves AndCertimex an independent Mexican organic certier is responsible formonitoring adherence to fair trade criteria Agromercados is establish-ing a chain of coffee shops in numerous cities to promote the sale oforganic and fair trade coffee and has created a single domestic fair tradecoffee brand label (Cafe Fertil) for all its small coffee producer members

With direct participation from grassroots producer groups and civilsociety organizations Comercio Justo has developed a set of general fairtrade criteria based on international standards as well as speci c qualityand certication standards for coffee and is doing the same for fourother products cacao honey handicrafts and basic grains (principallycorn) Comercio Justo stresses that its system is designed for organizedpeasant producers andmdashunlike international fair trade certiersmdashitdoes not intend to develop a separate lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo for plantationagriculture or wage labor

If building demand for fair trade products in the rich North isa formidable task creating a domestic fair trade market in the ThirdWorld would seem a challenge of Herculean proportions HoweverComercio Justo believes that socially conscious consumerism is not re-stricted to those with discretionary incomeThe group insists that by elim-inating intermediaries fairly traded products can be sold at a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo priceto the producer will be competitive with comparable conventionallyproduced goods and can even help address long-standing complaintsabout the quality of domestic products

The low prices paid to small producers on the national marketmean that the best Mexican products are exported Fair Trademakes it possible for small producers to also receive digniedprices in the national market and to not depend exclusively onexport (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001b)

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 185

The group is already selling fair trade labeled Cafe Fertil in mainstreamsupermarkets and restaurants through contracts with large retailersaccompanied by major promotion and consumer education campaignsa strategy that has been key to the success of fair trade coffee bananasand chocolate in Europe

The development of a Southern national fair trade seal also raisesinteresting issues of power and control within the fair trade movementAt stake here is the very potent question of who is empowered to certifywhom in the international fair trade movement Despite the fact thatSouthern producers do participate as members in some internationalfair trade organizations the agenda priorities and criteria for fairtrade have to date been set in the North (Renard 2003 Raynolds 2000)Other authors also note the lsquolsquoasymmetries of power at work in decidingwhat is fairrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001114) The Mexican fairtrade seal says Comercio Justo constitutes a lsquolsquosocial certicationrsquorsquo withone part of civil society certifyingmdashand regulatingmdashanother part of thesociety As such it enrolls both Southern producers and Southernconsumers in the process of (re)constructing what Renard (1999484)calls fair tradersquos lsquolsquosymbolic social meaningrsquorsquo

Fair Trade Tortillerias

One of the partners in the Comercio Justo Mexico network is ANECthe National Association of Peasant Marketing Enterprises ANECwhich represents small- to medium-sized producers of basic grains in 20of Mexicorsquos 31 states is engaged in a separate but related initiative thatspeaks to a key Mexican grievance over lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquomdashthe majorongoing rural crisis precipitated by the opening of the Mexican marketunder NAFTA Low quality imported corn mainly from the US hasundercut even the most ef cient Mexican producers and contributedto the rural exodus to large cities and to the US The quality of tortillashas declined in tandem (with an increasing proportion of dry cornmeal as opposed to whole-ground corn present in even lsquolsquofreshrsquorsquotortillas) and prices have soared as the last federal subsidies and pricecontrols are eliminated (Suarez 2002)

ANECrsquos vision is ambitious a national chain of tortillerias sellingfresh-ground tortillas made with GMO-free Mexican corn grown by theorganizationrsquos members and certied with the Comercio Justo Mexicoseal As of this writing ANEC has opened three tortillerias and hopes toexpand to 20 states by 2005 and nationwide (via franchises) by 2007Victor Suarez ANECrsquos Executive Director asserts that the seal holdsrelevance for domestic consumers

The fair trade seal plays the role of assuring the buyer that thetortilla has a guarantee in all phases of the process [that it

186 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Mexican origin and often undocumentedmdashtake home an averageyearly salary of $7654 far below the poverty line (Jarosz and Qazi 2000BCGEU 2001) In both orchards and packing houses unions say thatworkers face discrimination are denied the right to organize andbargain collectively and do not enjoy health and safety protectionsguaranteed by state law (UFW 2001) Indeed the Washington appleindustry today remains 100 percent non-union (Gamboa 2002) Ratherthan focus their attention solely on laborrsquos immediate employersunions hoping to organize apple workers identify the structuraldynamics hurting both growers and workers

The US agricultural community grew and prospered on thevalues of a lsquolsquofair returnrsquorsquo for those who risk the most and a lsquolsquodecentwagersquorsquo for a hard dayrsquos work Todayrsquos new global economythreatens to erode these values even further The apple industryis unfair Smaller family-owned farms are going bankruptbecause corporations pay less per box than it costs growers tocultivate and harvest their crops (BCGEU 2001)

Accordingly the UFW is launching its Washington Fair Trade AppleCampaign as an lsquolsquoeconomic collaborationrsquorsquo with family growers andgrower collectives that lsquolsquouses consumer pressure on retailers to paygrowers more for their fruitrsquorsquo (BCGEU 2001) Having identied thegrowersrsquo entrapment in a cost-price squeeze as the root cause ofworkersrsquo problems the union hopes that rather than pitting growersagainst labor both will gain if family apple farmers were to receive a fairprice Guadalupe Gamboa the UFWrsquos National Vice President anddirector of the apple campaign insists that workersrsquo resentment fortheir poor conditions is not directed principally at family growers

[It] is mainly against the packers the companies who are theworst abusers of workers The problem in the past is that familygrowers have identied with the big companies Wersquore trying tobreak that by showing them that theyrsquore more like the workersbecause they donrsquot have any say in the price they get (2002)

The fair trade apple campaign will label apples produced under thisgrower-worker collaboration with the UFWrsquos black eagle symbol(Paynter 2001) The seal will be conditioned upon growersrsquo enteringinto collective bargaining agreements with the UFW guaranteeingbetter wages health and safety guarantees and respect for basic laborlaws (eg workers compensation) In return the union hopes to offersmall growers volume buying long-term contracts and better and moreconsistent prices by bypassing distributors and negotiating directly withmajor grocery chains interested in the seal The fruit will initially besold in the largest west coast citiesmdashincluding Seattle Sacramento

182 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

San Francisco and Los Angelesmdashviewed by the union as lsquolsquosolidaritymarketsrsquorsquo (Gamboa 2002) where recognition of the UFW and sympathyfor farmworker issues run high

Rather than setting a minimum lsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price as in fair trade coffeethe fair trade apple initiative centers upon a living wage and respect forlabor rights much like the lsquolsquoplantation modalityrsquorsquo of the internationalfair trade movement The UFW is asserting that such rights are centralto the trading equation The union draws parallels between fair tradeapples fairly traded coffee and international anti-sweatshop campaignsall of which seek to reform lsquolsquounjustrsquorsquo practices in their respective in-dustries through consumer education and pressure

South-South Initiatives Inclusion

A key question in realizing the promise of fair trade initiatives togenerate greater social equity and justice is their inclusiveness If accessto fair trade markets is constrained by entry barriers such as qualitystandards or competition between producer groups for limited marketdemand the movementrsquos transformative potential will be limitedGoodman and Goodman (2001115) frame clearly the challenge posedby the quality issue

while fair trade organic has opened up lsquolsquospaces of inclusionrsquorsquofor small-scale producers the dictates of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquo act as anexclusionary force at odds with the relational ethic of themovement Many producers typically the poorest in bothresources and natural endowments even if they can meet thecosts of organic certication may be excluded from thenetwork because of the strict quality standards imposed byimporters and suppliers

In addition producing for high-value global niche markets bringsboth opportunities and a new set of demands and complexities for ruralproducers (Ericson 1999) These markets with their concomitantdemands for product consistency quantity quality and timely deliveryand pressures to adapt to ckle consumer tastes and styles can posethreats to community well-being and cohesion particularly in highlytraditional and indigenous communities

The potential for exclusion assert Goodman and Goodman (2001115) extends to the sites of consumption as well as production

the premium attached to fair trade organic [products]makes them high-priced luxury items out of reach of theeveryday purchases of lower-income consumers Nor is theremuch consumption of these products in either the local orregional Southern contexts of their production [ ] new

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 183

institutional mechanisms will be needed to promote moresocially inclusive patterns of sustainable consumption

However there are emerging fair trade initiatives located within theglobal South that provide provocative responses to these very problemsand pose a challenge both to the conceptualization of socially consciousconsumerism and to the balance of power within the fair trademovement Some of the most promising of these initiatives are takingplace in Mexico and we turn now to examining two of them

Comercio Justo Mexico

Mexico was the birthplace of the international fair trade movement in itscurrent form The original fair trade sealmdashMax Havelaarmdashwas created inresponse to the request of organized Mexican coffee producers foraccess on equitable terms and in signi cant quantities to Europeanmarkets For the rst time lsquolsquofairly-producedrsquorsquo commodities were tradedwith suf cient volume to generate real social bene ts for small farmersUnder these fair trade arrangements some coffee and honey producerassociations have realized improvements in social and economicconditions for their families and communities (Pruyn 2001)

However it has become clear that international fair trade sales are notand will not become a panacea even for coffee growers Despite Mexicorsquosstatus as the worldrsquos largest exporter of fair trade coffee (Raynolds 2000)international consumer demand remains far below supply and not allcommunities can afford organic certication or are appropriatelylocated to produce quality high-grown arabica coffeemdashboth virtuallyrequirements to enter the Northern fair trade market Other productssuch as bananas cacao and orange juice are in the very early stages of fairtrade market development The vast majority of peasant farmersmoreover are not even geographically situated to grow these potentiallyhigh-value crops

Mexican civil society groups and organized producer groups came torealize that even with enormous growth fair trade exports could neverconstitute a major development solution in and of themselves Forall but a few of the best organized coffee cooperatives for exampleNorthern fair trade markets represent only a small fraction of theirsales and at best a modest additional increment to producersrsquo incomes

In response these organizations formed Comercio Justo Mexico (FairTrade Mexico) in 1999 with a vision of building a domestic fair trademarket The organization has developed a Mexican fair trade label whichmade its debut in 2001 and is the rst such seal in a Southern nation

[T]hese Mexican small producers do not only sell their goodson the international fair trade market A signi cant part of

184 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

their production continues to be sold in the domestic marketwhich is equally plagued by destructive intermediarism Thesmall producers need our nationrsquos internal market to generatemore just trading relations and they need consumers torecognize their products The lsquolsquoFair Trade Seal of Mexicorsquorsquomakes it possible for these small producers to distinguish theirproducts and allows the consumer to have trust thatmdashwiththeir purchasemdashthey are helping the Mexican farmers most inneed (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001a)

This comprehensive initiative is composed of three separate entitiesComercio Justo Mexico AC (Fair Trade Mexico) is a promotional andeducational group that combines several civil society development NGOsand peasant producer organizations Agromercados SA (Agromarkets)is a marketing body for fair trade products owned by the small producermember organizations (of each speci c product) themselves AndCertimex an independent Mexican organic certier is responsible formonitoring adherence to fair trade criteria Agromercados is establish-ing a chain of coffee shops in numerous cities to promote the sale oforganic and fair trade coffee and has created a single domestic fair tradecoffee brand label (Cafe Fertil) for all its small coffee producer members

With direct participation from grassroots producer groups and civilsociety organizations Comercio Justo has developed a set of general fairtrade criteria based on international standards as well as speci c qualityand certication standards for coffee and is doing the same for fourother products cacao honey handicrafts and basic grains (principallycorn) Comercio Justo stresses that its system is designed for organizedpeasant producers andmdashunlike international fair trade certiersmdashitdoes not intend to develop a separate lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo for plantationagriculture or wage labor

If building demand for fair trade products in the rich North isa formidable task creating a domestic fair trade market in the ThirdWorld would seem a challenge of Herculean proportions HoweverComercio Justo believes that socially conscious consumerism is not re-stricted to those with discretionary incomeThe group insists that by elim-inating intermediaries fairly traded products can be sold at a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo priceto the producer will be competitive with comparable conventionallyproduced goods and can even help address long-standing complaintsabout the quality of domestic products

The low prices paid to small producers on the national marketmean that the best Mexican products are exported Fair Trademakes it possible for small producers to also receive digniedprices in the national market and to not depend exclusively onexport (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001b)

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 185

The group is already selling fair trade labeled Cafe Fertil in mainstreamsupermarkets and restaurants through contracts with large retailersaccompanied by major promotion and consumer education campaignsa strategy that has been key to the success of fair trade coffee bananasand chocolate in Europe

The development of a Southern national fair trade seal also raisesinteresting issues of power and control within the fair trade movementAt stake here is the very potent question of who is empowered to certifywhom in the international fair trade movement Despite the fact thatSouthern producers do participate as members in some internationalfair trade organizations the agenda priorities and criteria for fairtrade have to date been set in the North (Renard 2003 Raynolds 2000)Other authors also note the lsquolsquoasymmetries of power at work in decidingwhat is fairrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001114) The Mexican fairtrade seal says Comercio Justo constitutes a lsquolsquosocial certicationrsquorsquo withone part of civil society certifyingmdashand regulatingmdashanother part of thesociety As such it enrolls both Southern producers and Southernconsumers in the process of (re)constructing what Renard (1999484)calls fair tradersquos lsquolsquosymbolic social meaningrsquorsquo

Fair Trade Tortillerias

One of the partners in the Comercio Justo Mexico network is ANECthe National Association of Peasant Marketing Enterprises ANECwhich represents small- to medium-sized producers of basic grains in 20of Mexicorsquos 31 states is engaged in a separate but related initiative thatspeaks to a key Mexican grievance over lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquomdashthe majorongoing rural crisis precipitated by the opening of the Mexican marketunder NAFTA Low quality imported corn mainly from the US hasundercut even the most ef cient Mexican producers and contributedto the rural exodus to large cities and to the US The quality of tortillashas declined in tandem (with an increasing proportion of dry cornmeal as opposed to whole-ground corn present in even lsquolsquofreshrsquorsquotortillas) and prices have soared as the last federal subsidies and pricecontrols are eliminated (Suarez 2002)

ANECrsquos vision is ambitious a national chain of tortillerias sellingfresh-ground tortillas made with GMO-free Mexican corn grown by theorganizationrsquos members and certied with the Comercio Justo Mexicoseal As of this writing ANEC has opened three tortillerias and hopes toexpand to 20 states by 2005 and nationwide (via franchises) by 2007Victor Suarez ANECrsquos Executive Director asserts that the seal holdsrelevance for domestic consumers

The fair trade seal plays the role of assuring the buyer that thetortilla has a guarantee in all phases of the process [that it

186 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

San Francisco and Los Angelesmdashviewed by the union as lsquolsquosolidaritymarketsrsquorsquo (Gamboa 2002) where recognition of the UFW and sympathyfor farmworker issues run high

Rather than setting a minimum lsquolsquo oorrsquorsquo price as in fair trade coffeethe fair trade apple initiative centers upon a living wage and respect forlabor rights much like the lsquolsquoplantation modalityrsquorsquo of the internationalfair trade movement The UFW is asserting that such rights are centralto the trading equation The union draws parallels between fair tradeapples fairly traded coffee and international anti-sweatshop campaignsall of which seek to reform lsquolsquounjustrsquorsquo practices in their respective in-dustries through consumer education and pressure

South-South Initiatives Inclusion

A key question in realizing the promise of fair trade initiatives togenerate greater social equity and justice is their inclusiveness If accessto fair trade markets is constrained by entry barriers such as qualitystandards or competition between producer groups for limited marketdemand the movementrsquos transformative potential will be limitedGoodman and Goodman (2001115) frame clearly the challenge posedby the quality issue

while fair trade organic has opened up lsquolsquospaces of inclusionrsquorsquofor small-scale producers the dictates of lsquolsquoqualityrsquorsquo act as anexclusionary force at odds with the relational ethic of themovement Many producers typically the poorest in bothresources and natural endowments even if they can meet thecosts of organic certication may be excluded from thenetwork because of the strict quality standards imposed byimporters and suppliers

In addition producing for high-value global niche markets bringsboth opportunities and a new set of demands and complexities for ruralproducers (Ericson 1999) These markets with their concomitantdemands for product consistency quantity quality and timely deliveryand pressures to adapt to ckle consumer tastes and styles can posethreats to community well-being and cohesion particularly in highlytraditional and indigenous communities

The potential for exclusion assert Goodman and Goodman (2001115) extends to the sites of consumption as well as production

the premium attached to fair trade organic [products]makes them high-priced luxury items out of reach of theeveryday purchases of lower-income consumers Nor is theremuch consumption of these products in either the local orregional Southern contexts of their production [ ] new

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 183

institutional mechanisms will be needed to promote moresocially inclusive patterns of sustainable consumption

However there are emerging fair trade initiatives located within theglobal South that provide provocative responses to these very problemsand pose a challenge both to the conceptualization of socially consciousconsumerism and to the balance of power within the fair trademovement Some of the most promising of these initiatives are takingplace in Mexico and we turn now to examining two of them

Comercio Justo Mexico

Mexico was the birthplace of the international fair trade movement in itscurrent form The original fair trade sealmdashMax Havelaarmdashwas created inresponse to the request of organized Mexican coffee producers foraccess on equitable terms and in signi cant quantities to Europeanmarkets For the rst time lsquolsquofairly-producedrsquorsquo commodities were tradedwith suf cient volume to generate real social bene ts for small farmersUnder these fair trade arrangements some coffee and honey producerassociations have realized improvements in social and economicconditions for their families and communities (Pruyn 2001)

However it has become clear that international fair trade sales are notand will not become a panacea even for coffee growers Despite Mexicorsquosstatus as the worldrsquos largest exporter of fair trade coffee (Raynolds 2000)international consumer demand remains far below supply and not allcommunities can afford organic certication or are appropriatelylocated to produce quality high-grown arabica coffeemdashboth virtuallyrequirements to enter the Northern fair trade market Other productssuch as bananas cacao and orange juice are in the very early stages of fairtrade market development The vast majority of peasant farmersmoreover are not even geographically situated to grow these potentiallyhigh-value crops

Mexican civil society groups and organized producer groups came torealize that even with enormous growth fair trade exports could neverconstitute a major development solution in and of themselves Forall but a few of the best organized coffee cooperatives for exampleNorthern fair trade markets represent only a small fraction of theirsales and at best a modest additional increment to producersrsquo incomes

In response these organizations formed Comercio Justo Mexico (FairTrade Mexico) in 1999 with a vision of building a domestic fair trademarket The organization has developed a Mexican fair trade label whichmade its debut in 2001 and is the rst such seal in a Southern nation

[T]hese Mexican small producers do not only sell their goodson the international fair trade market A signi cant part of

184 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

their production continues to be sold in the domestic marketwhich is equally plagued by destructive intermediarism Thesmall producers need our nationrsquos internal market to generatemore just trading relations and they need consumers torecognize their products The lsquolsquoFair Trade Seal of Mexicorsquorsquomakes it possible for these small producers to distinguish theirproducts and allows the consumer to have trust thatmdashwiththeir purchasemdashthey are helping the Mexican farmers most inneed (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001a)

This comprehensive initiative is composed of three separate entitiesComercio Justo Mexico AC (Fair Trade Mexico) is a promotional andeducational group that combines several civil society development NGOsand peasant producer organizations Agromercados SA (Agromarkets)is a marketing body for fair trade products owned by the small producermember organizations (of each speci c product) themselves AndCertimex an independent Mexican organic certier is responsible formonitoring adherence to fair trade criteria Agromercados is establish-ing a chain of coffee shops in numerous cities to promote the sale oforganic and fair trade coffee and has created a single domestic fair tradecoffee brand label (Cafe Fertil) for all its small coffee producer members

With direct participation from grassroots producer groups and civilsociety organizations Comercio Justo has developed a set of general fairtrade criteria based on international standards as well as speci c qualityand certication standards for coffee and is doing the same for fourother products cacao honey handicrafts and basic grains (principallycorn) Comercio Justo stresses that its system is designed for organizedpeasant producers andmdashunlike international fair trade certiersmdashitdoes not intend to develop a separate lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo for plantationagriculture or wage labor

If building demand for fair trade products in the rich North isa formidable task creating a domestic fair trade market in the ThirdWorld would seem a challenge of Herculean proportions HoweverComercio Justo believes that socially conscious consumerism is not re-stricted to those with discretionary incomeThe group insists that by elim-inating intermediaries fairly traded products can be sold at a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo priceto the producer will be competitive with comparable conventionallyproduced goods and can even help address long-standing complaintsabout the quality of domestic products

The low prices paid to small producers on the national marketmean that the best Mexican products are exported Fair Trademakes it possible for small producers to also receive digniedprices in the national market and to not depend exclusively onexport (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001b)

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 185

The group is already selling fair trade labeled Cafe Fertil in mainstreamsupermarkets and restaurants through contracts with large retailersaccompanied by major promotion and consumer education campaignsa strategy that has been key to the success of fair trade coffee bananasand chocolate in Europe

The development of a Southern national fair trade seal also raisesinteresting issues of power and control within the fair trade movementAt stake here is the very potent question of who is empowered to certifywhom in the international fair trade movement Despite the fact thatSouthern producers do participate as members in some internationalfair trade organizations the agenda priorities and criteria for fairtrade have to date been set in the North (Renard 2003 Raynolds 2000)Other authors also note the lsquolsquoasymmetries of power at work in decidingwhat is fairrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001114) The Mexican fairtrade seal says Comercio Justo constitutes a lsquolsquosocial certicationrsquorsquo withone part of civil society certifyingmdashand regulatingmdashanother part of thesociety As such it enrolls both Southern producers and Southernconsumers in the process of (re)constructing what Renard (1999484)calls fair tradersquos lsquolsquosymbolic social meaningrsquorsquo

Fair Trade Tortillerias

One of the partners in the Comercio Justo Mexico network is ANECthe National Association of Peasant Marketing Enterprises ANECwhich represents small- to medium-sized producers of basic grains in 20of Mexicorsquos 31 states is engaged in a separate but related initiative thatspeaks to a key Mexican grievance over lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquomdashthe majorongoing rural crisis precipitated by the opening of the Mexican marketunder NAFTA Low quality imported corn mainly from the US hasundercut even the most ef cient Mexican producers and contributedto the rural exodus to large cities and to the US The quality of tortillashas declined in tandem (with an increasing proportion of dry cornmeal as opposed to whole-ground corn present in even lsquolsquofreshrsquorsquotortillas) and prices have soared as the last federal subsidies and pricecontrols are eliminated (Suarez 2002)

ANECrsquos vision is ambitious a national chain of tortillerias sellingfresh-ground tortillas made with GMO-free Mexican corn grown by theorganizationrsquos members and certied with the Comercio Justo Mexicoseal As of this writing ANEC has opened three tortillerias and hopes toexpand to 20 states by 2005 and nationwide (via franchises) by 2007Victor Suarez ANECrsquos Executive Director asserts that the seal holdsrelevance for domestic consumers

The fair trade seal plays the role of assuring the buyer that thetortilla has a guarantee in all phases of the process [that it

186 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

institutional mechanisms will be needed to promote moresocially inclusive patterns of sustainable consumption

However there are emerging fair trade initiatives located within theglobal South that provide provocative responses to these very problemsand pose a challenge both to the conceptualization of socially consciousconsumerism and to the balance of power within the fair trademovement Some of the most promising of these initiatives are takingplace in Mexico and we turn now to examining two of them

Comercio Justo Mexico

Mexico was the birthplace of the international fair trade movement in itscurrent form The original fair trade sealmdashMax Havelaarmdashwas created inresponse to the request of organized Mexican coffee producers foraccess on equitable terms and in signi cant quantities to Europeanmarkets For the rst time lsquolsquofairly-producedrsquorsquo commodities were tradedwith suf cient volume to generate real social bene ts for small farmersUnder these fair trade arrangements some coffee and honey producerassociations have realized improvements in social and economicconditions for their families and communities (Pruyn 2001)

However it has become clear that international fair trade sales are notand will not become a panacea even for coffee growers Despite Mexicorsquosstatus as the worldrsquos largest exporter of fair trade coffee (Raynolds 2000)international consumer demand remains far below supply and not allcommunities can afford organic certication or are appropriatelylocated to produce quality high-grown arabica coffeemdashboth virtuallyrequirements to enter the Northern fair trade market Other productssuch as bananas cacao and orange juice are in the very early stages of fairtrade market development The vast majority of peasant farmersmoreover are not even geographically situated to grow these potentiallyhigh-value crops

Mexican civil society groups and organized producer groups came torealize that even with enormous growth fair trade exports could neverconstitute a major development solution in and of themselves Forall but a few of the best organized coffee cooperatives for exampleNorthern fair trade markets represent only a small fraction of theirsales and at best a modest additional increment to producersrsquo incomes

In response these organizations formed Comercio Justo Mexico (FairTrade Mexico) in 1999 with a vision of building a domestic fair trademarket The organization has developed a Mexican fair trade label whichmade its debut in 2001 and is the rst such seal in a Southern nation

[T]hese Mexican small producers do not only sell their goodson the international fair trade market A signi cant part of

184 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

their production continues to be sold in the domestic marketwhich is equally plagued by destructive intermediarism Thesmall producers need our nationrsquos internal market to generatemore just trading relations and they need consumers torecognize their products The lsquolsquoFair Trade Seal of Mexicorsquorsquomakes it possible for these small producers to distinguish theirproducts and allows the consumer to have trust thatmdashwiththeir purchasemdashthey are helping the Mexican farmers most inneed (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001a)

This comprehensive initiative is composed of three separate entitiesComercio Justo Mexico AC (Fair Trade Mexico) is a promotional andeducational group that combines several civil society development NGOsand peasant producer organizations Agromercados SA (Agromarkets)is a marketing body for fair trade products owned by the small producermember organizations (of each speci c product) themselves AndCertimex an independent Mexican organic certier is responsible formonitoring adherence to fair trade criteria Agromercados is establish-ing a chain of coffee shops in numerous cities to promote the sale oforganic and fair trade coffee and has created a single domestic fair tradecoffee brand label (Cafe Fertil) for all its small coffee producer members

With direct participation from grassroots producer groups and civilsociety organizations Comercio Justo has developed a set of general fairtrade criteria based on international standards as well as speci c qualityand certication standards for coffee and is doing the same for fourother products cacao honey handicrafts and basic grains (principallycorn) Comercio Justo stresses that its system is designed for organizedpeasant producers andmdashunlike international fair trade certiersmdashitdoes not intend to develop a separate lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo for plantationagriculture or wage labor

If building demand for fair trade products in the rich North isa formidable task creating a domestic fair trade market in the ThirdWorld would seem a challenge of Herculean proportions HoweverComercio Justo believes that socially conscious consumerism is not re-stricted to those with discretionary incomeThe group insists that by elim-inating intermediaries fairly traded products can be sold at a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo priceto the producer will be competitive with comparable conventionallyproduced goods and can even help address long-standing complaintsabout the quality of domestic products

The low prices paid to small producers on the national marketmean that the best Mexican products are exported Fair Trademakes it possible for small producers to also receive digniedprices in the national market and to not depend exclusively onexport (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001b)

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 185

The group is already selling fair trade labeled Cafe Fertil in mainstreamsupermarkets and restaurants through contracts with large retailersaccompanied by major promotion and consumer education campaignsa strategy that has been key to the success of fair trade coffee bananasand chocolate in Europe

The development of a Southern national fair trade seal also raisesinteresting issues of power and control within the fair trade movementAt stake here is the very potent question of who is empowered to certifywhom in the international fair trade movement Despite the fact thatSouthern producers do participate as members in some internationalfair trade organizations the agenda priorities and criteria for fairtrade have to date been set in the North (Renard 2003 Raynolds 2000)Other authors also note the lsquolsquoasymmetries of power at work in decidingwhat is fairrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001114) The Mexican fairtrade seal says Comercio Justo constitutes a lsquolsquosocial certicationrsquorsquo withone part of civil society certifyingmdashand regulatingmdashanother part of thesociety As such it enrolls both Southern producers and Southernconsumers in the process of (re)constructing what Renard (1999484)calls fair tradersquos lsquolsquosymbolic social meaningrsquorsquo

Fair Trade Tortillerias

One of the partners in the Comercio Justo Mexico network is ANECthe National Association of Peasant Marketing Enterprises ANECwhich represents small- to medium-sized producers of basic grains in 20of Mexicorsquos 31 states is engaged in a separate but related initiative thatspeaks to a key Mexican grievance over lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquomdashthe majorongoing rural crisis precipitated by the opening of the Mexican marketunder NAFTA Low quality imported corn mainly from the US hasundercut even the most ef cient Mexican producers and contributedto the rural exodus to large cities and to the US The quality of tortillashas declined in tandem (with an increasing proportion of dry cornmeal as opposed to whole-ground corn present in even lsquolsquofreshrsquorsquotortillas) and prices have soared as the last federal subsidies and pricecontrols are eliminated (Suarez 2002)

ANECrsquos vision is ambitious a national chain of tortillerias sellingfresh-ground tortillas made with GMO-free Mexican corn grown by theorganizationrsquos members and certied with the Comercio Justo Mexicoseal As of this writing ANEC has opened three tortillerias and hopes toexpand to 20 states by 2005 and nationwide (via franchises) by 2007Victor Suarez ANECrsquos Executive Director asserts that the seal holdsrelevance for domestic consumers

The fair trade seal plays the role of assuring the buyer that thetortilla has a guarantee in all phases of the process [that it

186 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

their production continues to be sold in the domestic marketwhich is equally plagued by destructive intermediarism Thesmall producers need our nationrsquos internal market to generatemore just trading relations and they need consumers torecognize their products The lsquolsquoFair Trade Seal of Mexicorsquorsquomakes it possible for these small producers to distinguish theirproducts and allows the consumer to have trust thatmdashwiththeir purchasemdashthey are helping the Mexican farmers most inneed (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001a)

This comprehensive initiative is composed of three separate entitiesComercio Justo Mexico AC (Fair Trade Mexico) is a promotional andeducational group that combines several civil society development NGOsand peasant producer organizations Agromercados SA (Agromarkets)is a marketing body for fair trade products owned by the small producermember organizations (of each speci c product) themselves AndCertimex an independent Mexican organic certier is responsible formonitoring adherence to fair trade criteria Agromercados is establish-ing a chain of coffee shops in numerous cities to promote the sale oforganic and fair trade coffee and has created a single domestic fair tradecoffee brand label (Cafe Fertil) for all its small coffee producer members

With direct participation from grassroots producer groups and civilsociety organizations Comercio Justo has developed a set of general fairtrade criteria based on international standards as well as speci c qualityand certication standards for coffee and is doing the same for fourother products cacao honey handicrafts and basic grains (principallycorn) Comercio Justo stresses that its system is designed for organizedpeasant producers andmdashunlike international fair trade certiersmdashitdoes not intend to develop a separate lsquolsquomodalityrsquorsquo for plantationagriculture or wage labor

If building demand for fair trade products in the rich North isa formidable task creating a domestic fair trade market in the ThirdWorld would seem a challenge of Herculean proportions HoweverComercio Justo believes that socially conscious consumerism is not re-stricted to those with discretionary incomeThe group insists that by elim-inating intermediaries fairly traded products can be sold at a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo priceto the producer will be competitive with comparable conventionallyproduced goods and can even help address long-standing complaintsabout the quality of domestic products

The low prices paid to small producers on the national marketmean that the best Mexican products are exported Fair Trademakes it possible for small producers to also receive digniedprices in the national market and to not depend exclusively onexport (Comercio Justo Mexico 2001b)

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 185

The group is already selling fair trade labeled Cafe Fertil in mainstreamsupermarkets and restaurants through contracts with large retailersaccompanied by major promotion and consumer education campaignsa strategy that has been key to the success of fair trade coffee bananasand chocolate in Europe

The development of a Southern national fair trade seal also raisesinteresting issues of power and control within the fair trade movementAt stake here is the very potent question of who is empowered to certifywhom in the international fair trade movement Despite the fact thatSouthern producers do participate as members in some internationalfair trade organizations the agenda priorities and criteria for fairtrade have to date been set in the North (Renard 2003 Raynolds 2000)Other authors also note the lsquolsquoasymmetries of power at work in decidingwhat is fairrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001114) The Mexican fairtrade seal says Comercio Justo constitutes a lsquolsquosocial certicationrsquorsquo withone part of civil society certifyingmdashand regulatingmdashanother part of thesociety As such it enrolls both Southern producers and Southernconsumers in the process of (re)constructing what Renard (1999484)calls fair tradersquos lsquolsquosymbolic social meaningrsquorsquo

Fair Trade Tortillerias

One of the partners in the Comercio Justo Mexico network is ANECthe National Association of Peasant Marketing Enterprises ANECwhich represents small- to medium-sized producers of basic grains in 20of Mexicorsquos 31 states is engaged in a separate but related initiative thatspeaks to a key Mexican grievance over lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquomdashthe majorongoing rural crisis precipitated by the opening of the Mexican marketunder NAFTA Low quality imported corn mainly from the US hasundercut even the most ef cient Mexican producers and contributedto the rural exodus to large cities and to the US The quality of tortillashas declined in tandem (with an increasing proportion of dry cornmeal as opposed to whole-ground corn present in even lsquolsquofreshrsquorsquotortillas) and prices have soared as the last federal subsidies and pricecontrols are eliminated (Suarez 2002)

ANECrsquos vision is ambitious a national chain of tortillerias sellingfresh-ground tortillas made with GMO-free Mexican corn grown by theorganizationrsquos members and certied with the Comercio Justo Mexicoseal As of this writing ANEC has opened three tortillerias and hopes toexpand to 20 states by 2005 and nationwide (via franchises) by 2007Victor Suarez ANECrsquos Executive Director asserts that the seal holdsrelevance for domestic consumers

The fair trade seal plays the role of assuring the buyer that thetortilla has a guarantee in all phases of the process [that it

186 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

The group is already selling fair trade labeled Cafe Fertil in mainstreamsupermarkets and restaurants through contracts with large retailersaccompanied by major promotion and consumer education campaignsa strategy that has been key to the success of fair trade coffee bananasand chocolate in Europe

The development of a Southern national fair trade seal also raisesinteresting issues of power and control within the fair trade movementAt stake here is the very potent question of who is empowered to certifywhom in the international fair trade movement Despite the fact thatSouthern producers do participate as members in some internationalfair trade organizations the agenda priorities and criteria for fairtrade have to date been set in the North (Renard 2003 Raynolds 2000)Other authors also note the lsquolsquoasymmetries of power at work in decidingwhat is fairrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001114) The Mexican fairtrade seal says Comercio Justo constitutes a lsquolsquosocial certicationrsquorsquo withone part of civil society certifyingmdashand regulatingmdashanother part of thesociety As such it enrolls both Southern producers and Southernconsumers in the process of (re)constructing what Renard (1999484)calls fair tradersquos lsquolsquosymbolic social meaningrsquorsquo

Fair Trade Tortillerias

One of the partners in the Comercio Justo Mexico network is ANECthe National Association of Peasant Marketing Enterprises ANECwhich represents small- to medium-sized producers of basic grains in 20of Mexicorsquos 31 states is engaged in a separate but related initiative thatspeaks to a key Mexican grievance over lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquomdashthe majorongoing rural crisis precipitated by the opening of the Mexican marketunder NAFTA Low quality imported corn mainly from the US hasundercut even the most ef cient Mexican producers and contributedto the rural exodus to large cities and to the US The quality of tortillashas declined in tandem (with an increasing proportion of dry cornmeal as opposed to whole-ground corn present in even lsquolsquofreshrsquorsquotortillas) and prices have soared as the last federal subsidies and pricecontrols are eliminated (Suarez 2002)

ANECrsquos vision is ambitious a national chain of tortillerias sellingfresh-ground tortillas made with GMO-free Mexican corn grown by theorganizationrsquos members and certied with the Comercio Justo Mexicoseal As of this writing ANEC has opened three tortillerias and hopes toexpand to 20 states by 2005 and nationwide (via franchises) by 2007Victor Suarez ANECrsquos Executive Director asserts that the seal holdsrelevance for domestic consumers

The fair trade seal plays the role of assuring the buyer that thetortilla has a guarantee in all phases of the process [that it

186 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

is] 100 percent whole ground corn not combined with cornmeal and comes from organized producers with fair prices tothe producer and with a logic of medium- and long-term local[community] development (2002)

The tortillerias are owned and operated by ANECrsquos local producerorganizations providing a signi cant opportunity to shorten thecommodity chain perceive added value and also expand the in-clusiveness of fair trade While all of certied international fair trademdashand much of Comercio Justorsquos network as wellmdashfocuses on traditionaltropical export commodities such as coffee bananas and cocoaANECrsquos tortilleria project poses a provocative challenge to thelsquolsquoconventional wisdomrsquorsquo within fair trade that has emphasized gourmetor niche markets and consumers with adequate disposable income topay a premium price

We want to begin in working-class neighborhoods We want totest the concept there because our idea is that fair trade shouldnot just be for the elites but for everyone for the majority forthe poor people Quality food for poor people Why just qualityfor the rich And at an equal price (Suarez 2002)

By providing a competitively-priced better-tasting fair trade tortilla ona national level that appeals to themes of food sovereignty and fairnessthis project suggests the possibility that fair trade can reach and bene tthe agricultural as well as the consumer mainstreammdashin this caseproducers and non-af uent buyers of basic grains

Discussion Building a lsquolsquoMarket Where We All Fitrsquorsquo

The term lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is at present almost exclusively associated withinitiatives that connect producers in the South with consumers in theNorth But the issue of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in agricultural pricing is hardlylimited to either a single historical era or to one-way ows ofcommodities between macro-scale geopolitical areas The lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquoof agricultural prices has long been of concern to farmers whethercampesinos in Mexico or wheat producers in North Dakota The North-North and South-South examples we have examined indicate clearlythat the problems faced by small family producers transcend nationaland cultural boundaries As economic globalization advances suchfarmers in the North and South nd themselves with increasinglycommon grievances directed at similar sources

Coffee farmers apple workers and growers watermelon producersand dairy farmers have all developed broadly similar diagnoses of theproblems they face They complain of receiving a dwindling share ofthe nal purchase price due to restructuring of both agriculture and

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 187

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

commodity markets by increasingly powerful and vertically integratedtransnational playersmdashprocessors distributors importers and retailersNot only are prices and wages perceived as unfair they are alsoinconsistent and uctuate wildly and payment often comes late or onusurious terms forcing farmers and workers further into debt In boththe United States and Mexico it is increasingly dif cult to sustaina livelihood in family agriculture without pursuing either large-scaleproduction or turning to narrow niche markets

Not unexpectedly given these parallels in their structural positionsthe primary demand of both the Mexican and US initiatives is fora lsquolsquofair pricersquorsquo The groups pro led in this article express a relativelyconsistent formulation of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo the ability to meet productioncosts with a little extra left over to support a family save for the futureor fund community development projects Many of these initiatives alsoexhibit other signi cant commonalities There is a clearly expresseddesire not just for fair prices but for greater predictability more stableprices and reliable longer-term trading relationships Bypassing marketintermediaries is consistently seen to be the route to appropriation ofa larger share of product value by farmers and provision of a higherwage to laborers All the initiatives incorporate some form of organic orsustainable production practices as an integral part of their approachAnd forging direct producer-consumer links especially with lsquolsquoconsciousconsumersrsquorsquo who place a premium on fair and sustainable productionis a principal tactic for structuring what Whatmore and Thorne (1997)call a lsquolsquonourishing networkrsquorsquo In a general sense then both the Mexicanand US initiatives can be said to be pursuing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo broadlyconceived

However there are differences among the Northern efforts andmore importantly between Comercio Justo Mexico and its UScounterparts Although principles associated with fair trade mayprovide a conceptual underpinning to the US initiatives the speci celements of the fair trade model make only partial and unevenappearances The Midwest Food Alliance is the only organization thathas developed more than an elementary set of standards and thatgroup alone is engaged in formal certication Only Red Tomato andthe Federation of Southern Cooperatives provide farmers with pre-payment or credit Only the United Farm Workersrsquo apple campaignexplicitly situates its program within a fair trade framework referencesto fair trade in the other initiatives are minor pieces of backgroundingor entirely absent The US initiatives to greater and lesser degree maybest be understood as lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade projects in which elements ofthe fair trade model appear in promising ways but are neither fullydeveloped nor systematized

188 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Comercio Justorsquos framework on the other hand is categoricallyframed as lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo and its organizational structure and operationalarrangements represent a direct reading of the international South-North fair trade model onto a domestic Mexican context yet with activeinvolvement by producers and civil society from the outset ComercioJusto has developed comprehensive standards (both overall andcommodity-speci c) backed by a formal certication procedure andembodied in a label proclaiming its products to be fairly traded TheANEC tortilleria network will utilize this label as onemdashbut not thesolemdashelement of its value claims

Fair trade emerged in the context of the political economy of South-North interaction Application of fair trade to South-South and North-North market relationships may have seemed an obvious step toComercio Justo Mexico but it is a substantial epistemological leap forthe Northern groups Even Red Tomato born out of Equal Exchangehas not fully embraced its own natal integument Staff members at bothRed Tomato and the Midwest Food Alliance say their organizations havenot had serious discussions about engaging and utilizing the elements offair trade in the framing or implementation of their work Instead whatthe US initiatives draw upon is the conceptual and discursive apparatusassociated with the familiar palette of ideas and images historically linkedto the lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquo While the US initiatives may be beginning towalk some of the fair trade walk they are not talking much of the fairtrade talk What they are talking about is a fair price for the family farmer

That of course is a very old theme From the Populist era to the NewDeal a principal rallying cry for farmers in the United States was thedemand for lsquolsquoparityrsquorsquo for lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo terms of trade between the farm andindustrial sectors (Goodwyn 1978) But New Deal price support programschanneled this desire for a fair price into political activity around thecontinuation of subsidies for an undifferentiated lsquolsquofarmerrsquorsquo rather thaninto serious questioning of the changing structure of agriculture or thedevelopment of programs connecting farmers to consumers Despite analmost continuous lsquolsquofarm crisisrsquorsquo and attempts to deconstruct the lsquolsquomyth ofthe family farmrsquorsquo (eg Vogeler 1981) the language and iconography ofJeffersonian agrarianism has remained the touchstone of the lsquolsquosocialimaginaryrsquorsquo (Goodman and Goodman 2001) characteristic of USagriculture Given its hold on the popular imagination reinforcedthrough decades of political posturing and commercial advertising(Goldman and Dickens 1983) it is hardly surprising that staff members inthe US initiatives we have reviewed here frame their work principally asan effort to preserve lsquolsquofamily farmingrsquorsquo rather than as an exercise in fairtrade

This situation may be changing Record levels of subsidy have failed

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 189

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

to stem the decline in farm numbers and the fairness of the federalsubsidies themselves is being challenged as it has become clear thatsome 70 percent of support goes to 10 percent of the farmers withenvironmentally destructive results With the rise of the sustainableagriculture movement a powerful interest has emerged among a setof US farmers in achieving a lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo return by looking not to pricesupports but to developing the consumerrsquos willingness to pay forquality and environmental bene ts The market for organic and othervalue-added foods has grown rapidly supported by the development ofeco-labeling (Kane et al 2000) However the very success of the marketfor lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo foodstuffs has stimulated a corporatization of that sector inproduction processing and distribution (Guthman 2000 Du Puis2000292) Monsanto and the Center for Biotechnology Informationfor example have shown that they can deploy not only the lsquolsquofamilyfarmerrsquorsquo for their purposes but lsquolsquosustainabilityrsquorsquo as well (Kloppenburget al 2000) If truly sustainable farmers are to survive and prosper it maybe that lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo can provide a useful tool to effectively differentiatethem from their faux greensustainable counterparts Given broadconsumer interest in lsquolsquogreenrsquorsquo labels generally and increasing awarenessof highly visible fair trade products such as coffee in particular it maybe that foregrounding lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo is an effective route to take

Choosing such a path will mean de ning what is lsquolsquofairrsquorsquo and to whomThat in itself would be a useful exercise inasmuch as it would focusserious attention on some of the more fundamental issues thatproponents of sustainable food systems have so far tended to avoidMost of the US initiatives reviewed here refer simply to lsquolsquofarmersrsquorsquo orlsquolsquofamily farmersrsquorsquo or occasionally lsquolsquosmallrsquorsquo or lsquolsquolocalrsquorsquo farmers By contrastComercio Justo explicitly de nes both the social sector that it intends tosupport (farmers lsquolsquonot structurally dependent on hired laborrsquorsquo) and thetype of groups into which it expects those producers to be organized(lsquolsquosmall producer organizations which possess a formal and functionallydemocratic and independent organizational structurersquorsquo) (ComercioJusto Mexico 2000) US fair trade initiatives would not necessarily needto reproduce those particular de nitions but they would have to come toterms with whether and how to differentiate among lsquolsquofamily farmsrsquorsquolsquolsquolarger than family farmsrsquorsquo and lsquolsquofamily corporationsrsquorsquo The UFW applecampaign with its focus on structurally disadvantaged small and mediumfamily growers represents a promising start in this direction

Comercio Justorsquos insistence on dealing with organized groups offarmers is also a critical feature of its work indeed those organizedgroups are key partners in the initiative itself The linked effort by RedTomato and FSC is the only Northern program that works exclusivelywith democratically organized small farmer cooperatives The projects

190 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

undertaken by Family Farm Defenders and the Midwest Food Alliancepartly involve action through formal cooperatives but the lsquolsquotypicalrsquorsquo USapproach is to try to develop markets for atomized and unorganizedproducers Addressing these issues of class and collective action wouldbegin the process of decomposing the meaningless term lsquolsquofamily farmerrsquorsquoand bring some clarity to the question of what sort of social character-istics a sustainable structure of agriculture could or should be expectedto exhibit

This question of social criteria applies to labor as well as to theowners and operators of farms Of the North-North initiatives reviewedabove only the Midwest Food Alliance and the UFW apple campaignincorporate a concern for farm workers into their projects ina signi cant manner Fairness for workers is of course the centralobjective of the UFW undertaking The Midwest Food Alliance includesa set of lsquolsquohuman resource developmentrsquorsquo elements in its certi cationcriteria and is currently rening what has up to the present been a fairlyvague set of standards Goodman and Goodman (2001) also remind usthat fairness ought to entail the capacity of both workers and consumersto afford sustainably produced foods It is this objective that motivatedComercio Justo to create a domestic Southern fair trade market andinforms ANECrsquos plans to target working-class consumers The degree towhich organic and sustainably produced foods in the US constitutea lsquolsquoclass dietrsquorsquo inaccessible to certain income groups (lsquolsquoyuppie chowrsquorsquo) isan important question Inclusion of such foods in institutionalpurchasing schemes (such as farm-to-school programs) could providea means of ensuring that a wider segment of consumers have access toquality food Dening the provision of sustainable food to publicinstitutions as a matter of lsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo could be a powerful argument forgovernment support for such programs

Each of the North-North initiatives pro led above utilizes labelingto convey key messages to consumers about social conditions ofproduction Comercio Justo Mexico (2000) has gone substantiallyfarther in codifying the speci c standards that back up the claims madeon its label The existence of those standards permitsmdashindeedrequiresmdashthird party certication which in turn provides thecredibility that may be necessary to achieve legitimacy with consumers(Kane et al 200029) There is understandable resistance among therelatively small-scale US initiatives to implementing procedures whichincrease overhead costs and appear to cede control to outsideorganizations As long as face-to-face interaction with customers ismaintained certication may not be necessary But the sort of intimatelinkages between producers and consumers that are characteristic ofcommunity-supported agriculture and direct marketing have clear

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 191

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

limits If the entire food system is to be transformed then vehicles fortransmitting information in formats beyond direct personal contact arenecessary Labeling is an effective option for operating at the scalenecessary to achieve a signi cant impact in the market If the label is tohave integrity and be distinguishable from super cially similarconventional advertising then certication is useful There is nowdeep interest in eco-labeling of food products (Kane et al 2000) andfair trade could be a powerful component of the discursive optionsdeployed to enhance the prospects of sustainable producers

Enhancing the prospects for sustainable producers means linkingthem to markets Goodman and Goodman (200199) would prefer tohave fair trade result in a lsquolsquofundamental transformation of capitalistsociety and its distinctive rationalityrsquorsquo Yet nowhere in our review ofNorth-North and South-South initiatives have we encountered anythingrhetorical or programmatic resembling that sort of objective There isa deep sense of the unfairness of markets as currently constituted butno direct calls to link fair trade to a transition to a non-market societyFew of the actors involved in fair trade express a desire to escape fromor break the market in contrast to Brownrsquos (1993156) more radical callfor trade to operate lsquolsquoin and against the marketrsquorsquo According toComercio Justo Mexico (20005ndash6) lsquolsquoIf the Fair Trade Model is to satisfythe expectations of the small producer the penetration of massconsumer marketsmdashsuch as major supermarket chainsmdashis of utmostimportancersquorsquo The Midwest Food Alliance Red Tomato and the UFWall express similar ambitions Their approach shares much with KarlPolanyirsquos (1944) assertion of the need to lsquolsquore-embedrsquorsquo the market in thelarger framework of social relations out of which it emerged and whichit has come to dominate

Fair trade then represents not a challenge to the existence of themarket itself but rather to how markets are constructed andadministered how they deliver and apportion economic bene t toparticipants This is not to suggest however that participants in fairtrade movements lack a radical vision of market restructuring to achievegreater social justice Indeed Comercio Justo insists that its initiativeis about transforming the very purpose of markets reordering themto bene t the most disadvantaged members of society and creatingun mercado donde todos quepamosmdashlsquolsquoa market where we all trsquorsquo(Christus 2001)

Conclusion Harnessing the Moral Charge

By utilizing lsquolsquofair tradersquorsquo as a universal term to describe a broader range ofalternative market initiatives consumers might be better educated to

192 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

make the links between the processes driving small farmers in both Northand South to economic collapse and off the land Expanding consumersrsquoconceptualization of fair trade also holds out the promise of a morebroadly understood and widely applicable set of principles focused onrestructuring markets to place value on community integrity ecologicalsustainability and responsible consumption The heightened attentive-ness to equity inclusiveness and the lsquolsquootherrsquorsquo at work in these domesticfair trade initiatives could help to mitigate the problems associatedwith the lsquolsquodefensive localismrsquorsquo of concern to some observers of alternativeagro-food systems (Winter 2003 Goodman 2003 Hinrichs 2003)

Not all of these qualities are expressed to equal degree in North andSouth While diversity within the fair trade movement is surely healthythe lsquolsquoproto-rsquorsquo fair trade North-North initiatives pro led above couldbene t from an active dialogue with their Southern fair tradecounterpartsmdashas well as with lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo international fair tradeorganizationsmdashon several key issues including addressing the con-ditions of labor as well as those of small producers the role of detailedstandards and third-party certication and the importance oflsquolsquopoliticized commitmentsrsquorsquo within fair trade

Meanings of fairness we believe are both locally speci c and at thesame time open to (re-)de nition in an international contextEngaging these complexities can foster a productive exchange amongconsumers activists producers and academics about the role of trade inthe relationship between North and South between alternative marketsand the larger lsquolsquoglobal marketrsquorsquo and it can give greater salience to callsfor a comprehensive re-evaluation of the so-called lsquolsquofree tradersquorsquo policiesenforced by the World Trade Organization and other institutionsExpanding the understanding of fair trade to encompass North-Northand South-South initiatives far from lsquolsquowatering downrsquorsquo the conceptholds the potential to raise its pro le and enhance its conceptualclarity and perhaps to expand signi cantly the demand for fairly tradedgoods worldwide

Consumers in the US for example who are unable to relate to thedire straits faced by small coffee or cocoa farmers in Guatemala orGhana may more easily grasp the plight of hard-hit apple growers orindebted family farmers An Equal Exchange staff member working topromote fair trade coffee in Wisconsin supermarkets says she hadlimited success in explaining the fair trade concept to consumers untilshe began to use the analogy of struggling local dairy farmers

They were able to understand it because theyrsquove seen whatrsquoshappened to farmers in their own communities as pricesdropped and large farms took over Or maybe they were from

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 193

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

a farming family that had to leave the land So even thoughthey donrsquot know any coffee farmers they can understand thepredicament of the coffee farmer in relation to farmers they doknow (Leinberger 2001)

Doubtless many such regional lsquolsquosolidarity marketsrsquorsquo exist with the USand other nations This sympathy for nearby producersmdashand workersmdashfacing lsquolsquounfairrsquorsquo conditions represents a barely-tapped reservoir ofpotential support for broader consumer and labor movements anlsquolsquoengaged localismrsquorsquo extending beyond narrow considerations of place

Through boycotts and tactics such as those employed by the anti-sweatshop movement large numbers of consumers have demonstratedthey will choose to avoid speci c products if they believe the workerswho grew or produced them were paid or treated unfairly The growthof fair trade suggests that the converse is true as well By imbuinglsquolsquofairnessrsquorsquo in food production with relevant local meanings and linkingit to notions of sustainability social justice and responsible consump-tion the fair trade movementmdashin both its lsquolsquotraditionalrsquorsquo and newerSouth-South and North-North manifestationsmdashmight more effectivelyharness the lsquolsquomoral chargersquorsquo to improve conditions for small agriculturalproducers and laborers in both North and South who are experiencingmost directly the deleterious effects of economic globalization

ReferencesAllen P and M Kovach 2000 lsquolsquoThe Capitalist Composition of Organic The Potential of

Markets in Ful lling the Promise of Organic Agriculturersquorsquo Agriculture and HumanValues 17(3)221ndash232

Amin S 1976 Unequal Development New York Monthly Review PressBCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Employeesrsquo Union) 2001 lsquolsquoMarch

For Fair Trade Washington State Farm Workers are Asking for Your Help in GettingJusticersquorsquo Press Release July 23 Vancouver BC Canada

Brown MB 1993 Fair Trade Reform and Realities in the International Trading SystemLondon Zed

Christus 2001 lsquolsquoUn Mercado Donde Todos Quepamosrsquorsquo 723 Front CoverComercio Justo Mexico 2000 General Fair Trade Standards Comercio Justo Mexico AC

(httpwwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001a Por Que un Sello Mexicano Comercio Justo Mexico AC (http

wwwcomerciojustocommx) Retrieved August 29 2001mdashmdashmdash 2001b Y la Calidad Comercio Justo Mexico AC (httpwwwcomerciojusto

commx) Retrieved August 29 2001Dickinson R 2000 lsquolsquoRed Tomato Bringing Fair Trade Ideals to US Farmersrsquorsquo Java Jive

(Equal Exchange Coffee) 212DuPuis M 2000 lsquolsquoNot in My Body rBGH and the Rise of Organic Milkrsquorsquo Agriculture and

Human Values 17(3)285ndash295Equal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoOur Missionrsquorsquo (httpwwwequalexchangecomintro

eeintro5html) Retrieved September 7 2002Ericson RB 1999 The Conscious Consumer Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade

Kirksville MO Fair Trade Federation

194 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004

Fair Trade Federation 2000 FTF Principles and Practices Kirksville MO Fair TradeFederation

mdashmdashmdash 2002 lsquolsquoMembership Criteriarsquorsquo (httpwwwfairtradefederationorgmemcrithtml) Retrieved September 7 2002

Family Farm Defenders nd lsquolsquoThe Family Farm Defendersrsquorsquo Brochure Hillsboro WIFamily Farm Defenders

Family Farmer Cheese 2000 Family Farmer Colby Cheese Label Plain WIFederation of Southern Cooperatives 2000 lsquolsquoBlack Farmers Market Watermelon to

Northeast consumersrsquorsquo Press release June 23 Atlanta GAFLO (Fairtrade Labeling Organisations International) 2002a lsquolsquoFairtrade Standardsrsquorsquo

(httpwwwfairtradenetstandardshtml) Retrieved September 7 2002mdashmdashmdash 2002b NIs Sales Volumes 2000ndash2001 Unpublished document Bonn Germany

FLOGamboa G 2002 Vice President United Farm Workers Personal Communication

September 10 Sunnyside WAGlobal Exchange 2002 lsquolsquoFair Trade Economic Justice in the Marketplacersquorsquo (http

wwwglobalexchangeorgstoresfairtradehtml) Retrieved September 7 2002Goldman R and DR Dickens 1983 lsquolsquoThe Selling of Rural Americarsquorsquo Rural Sociology

48(4)585ndash606Goodman D 2003 lsquolsquoThe Quality lsquoTurnrsquo and Alternative Food Practice Re ections and

Agendarsquorsquo Journal of Rural Studies 191ndash7Goodman D and M Goodman 2001 lsquolsquoSustaining Foods Organic Consumption and the

Socio-Ecological Imaginaryrsquorsquo Pp 97ndash119 in Exploring Sustainable ConsumptionEnvironmental Policy and the Social Sciences M Cohen and J Murphy eds OxfordElsevier Science

Goodwyn L 1978 The Populist Moment A Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in AmericaNew York Oxford University Press

Greider W 1997 One World Ready or Not The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism New YorkSimon amp Schuster

Guthman J 2000 lsquolsquoRaising Organic An Agro-ecological Assessment of Grower Practicesin Californiarsquorsquo Agriculture and Human Values 17(3)257ndash266

Hinrichs CC 2003 lsquolsquoThe Practice and Politics of Food System Localizationrsquorsquo Journal ofRural Studies 1933ndash45

Jarosz L and J Qazi 2000 lsquolsquoThe Geography of Washingtonrsquos lsquoWorld Applersquo GlobalExpressions in a Local Landscapersquorsquo Journal of Rural Studies 16(1)1ndash11

Kane D B Lydon K Richards and M Sligh 2000 Greener Fields Signposts for SuccessfulEcoLabels Pittsboro NC RAFImdashUSA

Klein N 1999 No Logo Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies New York PicadorKloppenburg J Jr S Lezberg K DeMaster GW Stevenson and J Hendrickson 2000

lsquolsquoTasting Food Tasting Sustainability Dening the Attributes of an Alternative FoodSystem With Competent Ordinary Peoplersquorsquo Human Organization 59(2)177ndash186

Leinberger A 1999 lsquolsquoFamily Farmer Cheese Addressing Milk Pricing Injustices andFamily Dairy Farm Lossrsquorsquo The Wisconsin Foodshed 3(1)1ndash2

mdashmdashmdash 2001 Farmer Representative Equal Exchange Coffee Midwest Of ce PersonalCommunication October 10 Madison WI

Marsden T J Murdoch and K Morgan 1999 lsquolsquoSustainable Agriculture Food SupplyChains and Regional Development Editorial Introductionrsquorsquo International PlanningStudies 4(3)295ndash301

McMichael P 1996 lsquolsquoGlobalization Myths and Realitiesrsquorsquo Rural Sociology 61(1)25ndash55Midwest Food Alliance nd lsquolsquoMidwest Food Alliance Information Packet Who We Are and

How to Get Startedrsquorsquo St Paul MN Midwest Food AllianceMiele M 1999 lsquolsquoShort Circuits New Trends in the Consumption of Food and the

Changing Status of Meatrsquorsquo International Planning Studies 4(3)373ndash387Mintz S 1996 Tasting Food Tasting Freedom Excursions Into Eating Culture and the Past

Boston Beacon PressPaynter S 2001 lsquolsquoFighting for a Sense of Fairness in Apple Industryrsquorsquo Seattle Post-

Intelligencer August 6 C1 C4

Bringing the lsquolsquoMoral Chargersquorsquo Home mdash Jaffee et al 195

Pruyn G 2001 lsquolsquoEl Comercio Justo en Mexicorsquorsquo Christus 72322ndash29Raynolds LT 2000 lsquolsquoRe-Embedding Global Agriculture The International Organic and

Fair Trade Movementsrsquorsquo Agriculture and Human Values 17(3)297ndash309mdashmdashmdash 2001 lsquolsquoForging New ConsumerProducer Links in Fair Trade Coffee Networksrsquorsquo

Unpublished Manuscript Sociology Department Colorado State Universitymdashmdashmdash 2002 lsquolsquoConsumerProducer Links in Fair Trade Coffee Networksrsquorsquo Sociologia

Ruralis 42(4)404ndash424Red Tomato 2002 Personal Communication August 26 Canton MAmdashmdashmdash nd lsquolsquoWhenrsquos the Last Time You Bit Into a Juicy Ripe Red rsquorsquo Canton MA Red

TomatoRenard MC 1999 lsquolsquoThe Interstices of Globalization The Example of Fair Coffeersquorsquo

Sociologia Ruralis 39(4)484ndash500mdashmdashmdash 2000 Los Intersticios de la Globalizacion Un Label (Max Havelaar) Para los Pequenos

Productores de Cafe Mexico City CEMCAmdashmdashmdash 2003 lsquolsquoFair Trade Quality Market and Conventionsrsquorsquo Journal of Rural Studies

1987ndash96Rice RA 2001 lsquolsquoNoble Goals and Challenging Terrain Organic and Fair Trade Coffee in

the Global Marketplacersquorsquo Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 1439ndash66Roxborough I 1979 Theories of Underdevelopment London MacMillanSuarez V 2002 Executive Director ANEC Personal Communication May 23 Mexico

CityScott J 1976 The Moral Economy of the Peasant New Haven Yale University PressTheunissen A 2002 Fairtrade Labeling Organisations International (FLO) Personal

Communication September 16 Bonn GermanyTransFair USA 2002 lsquolsquoWhat is Fair Tradersquorsquo (httpwwwtransfairusaorgwhyfairtrade

html) Retrieved September 7 2002United Farm Workers 2001 lsquolsquoUS Mexican Of cials to Hear Workersrsquo Claims in Trade

Labor Rights Dispute under NAFTA Sanctions Could Result Union to Launch lsquoFairTrade Applersquo Campaignrsquorsquo Press Release August 8 Yakima WA

Vogeler I 1981 The Myth of the Family Farm Boulder WestviewWhatmore S and L Thorne 1997 lsquolsquoNourishing Networks Alternative Geographies of

Foodrsquorsquo Pp 287ndash304 in Globalizing Food Agrarian Questions and Global Restructuring DGoodman and M Watts eds London Routledge

Winter M 2003 lsquolsquoEmbeddedness The New Food Economy and Defensive LocalismrsquorsquoJournal of Rural Studies 1923ndash32

196 Rural Sociology Vol 69 No 2 June 2004